Apprentice
by John Riehle
Summary: Slade, from the Animated Teen Titans, has come to Middleton in search of a new apprentice! Complete.
1. New Enemies

"Bwahahahaha, at long last!" a lone laugh echoed throughout a large room undecorated save for several support columns, receiving only its own repetition in response. "Now that my new Death Ray is completed, I need only place it on top of the famous St. Louis arch, thus giving me the ultimate high ground. And when that is done, I, the famous Arch Villain shall rule the city. Bwahahahaha."

The figure paused a moment, as if expecting some kind of response, yet finding only silence, he prepared to begin again.

"ahem Now that my new Death Ray…"

"Alright, alright. We heard you the first time." came a young female voice from the side. Arch Villain turned about to see two figures standing within his sanctuary. The first was a young woman with long red hair and emerald green eyes sporting some kind of basic black shirt exposing her mid-drift and brown mission pants. Standing next to her was a blond haired, brown eyed young man sporting similar attire.

Arch Villain seemed unconcerned with this unannounced arrival. "Kim Possible! So, we meet at last. And you have no doubt uncovered my master plan and come to try and stop me!"

"Uhmm, yeah, after you emailed my website to tell me about it!" Kim rolled her eyes before gesturing to her partner, Ron Stoppable, who was holding a piece of paper.

Ron began reading the email. "Dear Team Possible, Hello. Nice to finally make your acquaintance. I am Arch Villain, and am planning to hold the entire city of St. Louis hostage with my new Death Ray. Try to stop me if you dare. Yours truly, Arch Villain."

Arch Villain paused, his cheeks blushing a deep crimson hue before speaking again. "Still, I suppose I must congratulate you on finding my secret lair in time, and getting past my formidable defenses!"

A look of incredulousness came over the young super heroine's face as she responded. "You sent us a map showing us how to get here. Not that we needed it, since as soon as we got into St. Louis, every phone pole, stop sign, electric pole, parking meter and tree had signs with arrows on them saying 'This way to Arch Villain's Secret Lair.' And when we actually got here, your front door was unlocked and you even left out cookies for us!"

Arch Villain pulled at his collar desperately trying to vent nervous sweat that seemed to be collecting around his neck. "Well, uh… it's my first time doing this you see. I didn't want to be rude."

"They were STALE COOKIES!" Ron Stoppable added, clearly upset. "Frankly, that right there is just meaner than attack dogs." Ron added flatly.

"Look I didn't know when you were coming, ok!" Arch Villain replied defensively. "And as for the guards and dogs… well they're expensive! Do you have any idea how much your average henchmen charges by the hour, plus with the medical, and the dental… why do henchmen always have to have dental? It's not like most of them have all their teeth anyway!"

By this point, Arch Villain's voice had degraded into a pitiful whine that had completely eliminated all traces of any threatening quality that it might have once held in someone's wildest dreams. Try as they might have to think of something else to do, the only action that Kim and Ron could bring themselves to take was to look at each other with curiosity, trying to determine if this was in fact actually happening or if one of them was just dreaming.

"Besides," Arch Villain continued, his voice now taking on a sinister tone once more, "I spent all my money on my Death Ray. Let's find out if it was worth it!" With this, Arch Villain reached into his outfit, retrieving some kind of remote control. As he pressed a button on the remote, the large device that looked like every other massive death ray from every cliché movie or TV show or real life incident that Kim and Ron had been through seemed to come to life, humming deeply as it took aim on the two heroes.

"You know I've got to say, as far as Death Rays go, I've seen bigger." Ron added plainly, his tone of voice betraying the all too lethal nature of the situation. Fortunately, Kim Possible reacted before the Death Ray could fire, quickly leaping to her side and pushing Ron out of the way as a green blast of energy lanced out from the large machine and blasted through the ground behind them. Kim and Ron rolled to their feet in time to see that the machine had perfectly re-aligned itself for another shot.

"That would actually be so cool… if I hadn't already seen a hundred others just like it!" Ron shouted in defiance in Arch Villain's direction. The costumed madman could only growl in frustration and slam down on the targeting remote in response.

Again and again, the machine continued to target and fire at the two heroes who ducked, dodged, ran, leapt, flipped, dived, dipped and slid to avoid the assorted blasts. Finally, Kim was able to spot some cover for the two of them behind one of the rooms few support columns. Grabbing Ron by his right arm, she lead them behind the pillar just as a spare shot hit the column an inch from her hair.

"Wow, you know he really did get a good deal on that thing. I wonder how much a Death Ray actually goes for anyway?" Ron asked casually.

"Ron, stay focused for a minute. We need a plan." Kim peaked around from behind their cover to take in the situation. As she took in her surroundings, Ron's attention was finally drawn to something along the side wall.

"Uhh, Kim…"

"Ok, here's the plan. I'll draw his fire while you try and sneak around and disarm that device."

Ron paused for a moment, as if considering the assignment placed before him, before responding with a casual "Ok."

"Ron this is serious!" Kim insisted. "Here, take the Kimmunicator. Wade can talk you through how to disable a Death Ray." Kim retrieved from her pocket the small, blue device and placed it firmly in Ron's hand.

"But Kim, I don't think it'll be as…"

"Ok, ready, set… GO!"

Kim leapt out from behind the stony barrier, leaving her best friend speechless. With a stone resolve in her face, she moved to face the enormous Death Ray as it turned menacingly upon her.

The machine fired three blasts in rapid succession. Kim's muscles tensed for a minute and then leapt; spinning and twisting through the air with all the agility and grace that one would expect from the captain of the all-state champion Mad Dog cheerleading squad. Each of the blasts shot past her, missing her completely as she moved through the air.

Kim landed squarely on her feet, only to find that the machine had kept perfect track of her aerial maneuvers. The machine fired again, forcing Kim to duck the blast, then side step the next one, and finally back flip out of the way of the next and right into a corner of the room. Kim tensed for a moment as she realized that she had backed herself into a dead end with no room left to maneuver.

"Ah-ha! And now Kim Possible, say good bye to the world as you know it!" Arch Villain smiled with menacing glee as his Death Ray powered up again for one more shot… only to suddenly power down and deactivate. Arch Villain's facial expression quickly changed to one of confusion and panic as he began frantically pressing all manner of buttons on his remote, hoping to initiate some kind of response or function within the Ray.

"Ahem." came a confident and triumphant Ron Stoppable, swinging the electrical plug to the Death Ray in his right hand. "Dude, a free piece of advice. Next time you buy some all powerful doom device, you might try buying one that doesn't need to be plugged into the wall socket!"

For a moment, there was silence, save for the poorly muffled laughter of Kim Possible, who realized that even Drakken had never been _this_ easy to foil. However, deep within the mind of Arch Villain, a storm was brewing. The humiliation, the casualness with which his foes had treated him, all brewing and culminating into a terrifying and horrible experience for all those around him.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Arch Villain began brawling out, spilling tears like a faucet as he ran forward, screaming and crying at Ron Stoppable. The goofy young hero wore a look of concern on his face as Arch Villain struck out with a weak left slap that Ron casually avoided.

"Hey, come on. Stop it." Ron added quickly as Arch Villain attempted to strike the young hero with a right slap, which Ron again avoided.

This was followed by another attack by Arch Villain and another effortless dodge.

"Ok seriously…"

And another.

"I'm not…."

And another.

"Would you just…'

And another.

"Ok, that's enough!" Ron added finally as he raised his right foot into the air, only to bring it crushing down on Arch Villain's right toe. The costumed buffoon let out a high pitch squeak, and then remained quite still as he simply fell over to the ground.

Kim Possible came over to Ron's side, looking down at their defeated foe. For a moment, the two looked at each other in confusion, as if expecting some kind of ruse or trap. Yet when no more death rays came to life, and when Arch Villain did not rise up for a renewed battle, it seemed the day had been won.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hahahaha, Kim Possible, you and your sidekick are now right where I want you." Arch Villain added hysterically as the police officer escorted him into the back of the squad car.

"Hello! We just won. You might have noticed… you're under arrest, right to remain silent and all that." Ron responded defensively, hoping that Arch Villain might pick up on the subtle hint of his last statement.

"Oh you only think you have won, but this is merely a battle. The war goes on and on…"

"And on and on and on." Kim finished the sentence after closing the door to the police car behind Arch Villain, sealing him inside to rant on in silence. Kim had to admit, she did not envy the poor officer who would have to listen to that all night while driving him back to the station.

"Team Possible," the Police Sergeant spoke, walking up to the young pair "I can't thank you enough for what you did. The city of St. Louis owes you a huge thanks."

"Oh, it was no big." Kim added a little uneasily, rubbing the back of her neck, while Ron pretended to look off to the distance, whistling nervously. In truth, it was a much larger 'big' than either would admit. Ever since their High School Prom, Ron and Kim had been overwhelmed with homework and stopping all manner of super villains it seemed. The two young teens had been fiercely fighting for some time together, and finals had pretty much made that all but a completely loosing battle. Having only recently finished with their last week of school, the two had actually just started their second date together in as many nights when their friend, Wade, had called them up on the Kimmunicator to inform them of Arch Villain. The young couple had reluctantly run out on some rather nice dinner reservations that their parents had been kind enough to make for them at The Fancy Truffle and hitched a ride over thanks to a private jet company that owed Kim a favor just to get here. Spending their second date together foiling some second rate nut job with a death ray was not their idea of a romantic evening, at least not for tonight.

It was some time later after the police had finally left and Kim had managed to get Wade to arrange their ride home for them that the two young heroes actually got a chance to sit down together in peace on a nearby bench.

"Some night, huh?" Ron asked, a hint of fatigue in his voice.

"Yeah, although I suppose I can't complain. After all, how many other girls get to go to St. Louis for their second date?"

Ron tried to force his same, usual, stupid grin that he normally wore, but for some reason, it just wouldn't come. "I'm sorry KP. I really did want tonight to be special."

"Ron, it's ok. Really. These things happen, I guess."

"Well I'm not going to let that ruin anything. I'm going to make up to you. Tomorrow night at seven sound good?"

Kim smiled and rubbed her nose against his warm cheek. "Tomorrow at seven sounds perfect." She added, throwing her arms around Ron as the two sat together under the glow of the full moon.

From atop a nearby building, a lone figure stood perfectly still as he watched the young couple. The figure wore dark clothing covered with gray patches of body armor over his arms, legs and figure. His face was completely concealed in a half black, half orange mask, with only a single eye opening on the left orange side. The figure spoke with a cold, emotionless, almost metallic voice.

"Tomorrow night at seven my young friends. It's a date."


	2. A Night On The Town

Within her home, one Mrs. Dr. Possible sat down with her newspaper in hand, enjoying the tranquility of the evening, with her husband off to the side engrossed in a paper of his own.

"AAAAAAGGHH!" Came a pair of young male voices from upstairs that the brain-surgeon quickly recognized as that of her two twin sons. Sure enough, Jim and Tim came running down the stairs, both of their hair standing up and out with smoke coming out of it.

"_Well, at least it had started tranquil."_ The mother thought to herself.

"Mom!" Jim spoke first.

"Kim booby-trapped her door again!" Tim spoke, finishing his brother's thought.

With a small sigh, Mrs. Possible rose from her chair and walked to the tip of the stairs, calling up to her daughter.

"Kimberly Anne Possible, what have I told you about electrocuting your brothers!"

"But mom," came a faint voice from upstairs, "they were trying to conduct experiments on my perfume!"

At this, Mrs. Possible turned about to face her sons. "Boys, is this true?"

The 'tweebs' as they were called by their sister, exchanged guilty looks for a minute before returning the most insincere looking 'innocent' smile that they could muster.

"Boys, how many times have I told you, I don't want you bothering your sister when she is getting ready for a date?"

"But what's the big deal?" asked Jim.

"It's just a date with Ron. I mean, it's too weird." Added Tim.

"Yeah, it'd be like if Kim dated cousin Marty." Jim continued.

Mrs. Possible couldn't help but chuckle to herself. "Boys, it's not quite like that. Ron is a very nice young man and he and your sister want to have a nice night together. Besides, your cousin Marty's acne actually connects to form a map of Connecticut." Mrs. Possible added frankly.

"It's true," added Mr. Possible, who had remained silent throughout this whole ordeal. "We'd have never found our way to the last Possible family outing if it hadn't been for your cousin Marty."

Ding-Dong

The front doorbell brought a look of sinister glee to the twin's faces as they ran to answer the door, screaming "Kim and Ron, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I…" Unfortunately the young duo was cut off by their mother, who wore a stone look of resolve on her face.

"Boys. Rooms. Now!"

As Mrs. Possible hurried her sons upstairs, she turned to see that Mr. Possible had taken it upon himself, in quite a hurry she noted mentally, to answer the door. Sure enough, on the other side, an all too familiar young man with blonde hair, sporting nice khaki pants and a light blue collar shirt.

"Top of the evening to you Mr. and Mrs. Drs. P!" Ron exclaimed, carrying an assortment of flowers in hand.

"Ah Ronald, come in." Mr. Possible responded in his most formal tone. The father of the house closed the door behind Ron as he ushered him inside. "Now Ronald, I think it's necessary for us to go over some of the rules…"

"Kim's curfew is ten, unless some world threatening emergency comes up, in which case, call first, and you might extend it to eleven." Mr. Possible was cut off from finishing his sentence as Ron quickly recited the family rules from memory. "Make sure she's happy and has a good time, otherwise it's a one way trip to the nearest black ho ho holy cow!"

Ron's mind suddenly lost all conscious control over the sounds that came out of his mouth as his focus was captured by something else. Standing on top of the stairs, Kim Possible had selected for herself a short brown skirt and a form fitting black shirt, which revealed both her bare shoulders as well as the underline of her neck. She had clearly spent hours on the proper application of makeup, eyeliner and what not, and were one to ask a certain blond haired gentlemen, he would have said it was worth it. At least he would have if he still had the ability to form complete sentences, which he did not.

Kim could see the look in Ron's eyes as she moved down the stairs and knew that if they were ever going to get moving, she'd have to snap him out of it. Not that she minded having a boyfriend who went absolutely nuts over her every time she dressed up, but her parents were still in the room.

"Thanks for the flowers Ron. They're beautiful."

There was continued silence, save for the chirping of some crickets in the background before Kim spoke again.

"So, uh, are we going?"

"Uh-huh." Ron added weakly, before snapping out of his trance.

"Well you kids have a good time." Mrs. Possible said, opening the door to hurry the two on out.

"But not too good." Mr. Possible added firmly.

"Got you covered Mr. P. I brought along a chaperon." Ron replied proudly. Kim gave him a confused and slightly incredulous look, until she saw a familiar pink rodent climb out of a pocket in Ron's pant and scamper up Ron's arm to its usual perch on his shoulders.

Rufus grinned and saluted proudly, squeaking something that sounded like 'reporting for duty.'

Somewhat less than entirely satisfied, Mr. Possible waved the young couple good bye as they headed off down the drive way towards Ron's waiting moped.

"You brought along Rufus?" Kim finally asked.

"Well, the poor little guy hasn't been getting out much, and when I mentioned that we were going to the movie, the guy had a hankering for theatre popcorn."

"Mmm hmm, popcorn." Rufus squeaked with a wide smile.

"Isn't three a crowd?" Kim asked with a seductive grin.

"Not too worry KP. I got that covered too." Ron smiled once again in triumph.

-----------------------------------------------------

Ask any young teenage girl, and they'd tell you that the movie to see for the summer was _The Ring and the Bottle_. It was supposed to be one of the most tear jerking movies of the year and had already made every pop-teen magazine's top list of 'must-see' date films, much to the chagrin of all the teenage boys whose girlfriends were dragging them along to see it. Kim had been quite anxious to see it for some time, and Ron's promise of a made up second date seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately, she was having somewhat of a hard time keeping up with the story. She was fairly certain that the plot revolved around a ring of some kind… maybe… or perhaps some sort of bottle, or possibly both. She wasn't sure. In fact, an hour into the movie, and Kim had to admit that she didn't really have the first clue what the heck the film was about.

Instead, her attention had been completely diverted to her date who had spent the last fifty five minutes of the film with his arm around her shoulders, his warm palm feeling remarkably blissful against her bare shoulder in the overly cooled movie theatre as he gently and tenderly stroked her hair with his spare hand. She could only shudder in response every time she felt his breath on the back of her neck, though she tried desperately not to show it. In between these gentle caresses, of course, left plenty of time for kisses shared between the couple. Kim couldn't help but smile to herself. If someone had once told her not so long ago that she would ever share a romantic movie with her best friend, she probably would have called the local loony bin with that person's name and physical description to see if they were a patient there that had escaped in the middle of the night or something.

Rufus sat two aisles down from the couple, still gorging himself on an inordinate amount of popcorn and other theatre snacks that Ron must have spent a month's worth of saved allowance to purchase. Rufus himself had absolutely no interest in the sappy romance taking place on the big screen in front of him, or the one a few rows behind him for that matter, but as long as the snacks held up, he was happy, and more importantly, he was distracted! It was Ron's first law of dating: as long as the chaperon comes back happy, the parents will be happy. The fact that the chaperon had been bought off was just a detail that Ron felt Kim's parents didn't necessarily have to know about right away.

-----------------------------------------------------

It was some time later before the movie had finally gotten out. Ron had taken a few extra minutes to gather up a naked mole rat sitting two aisles down from them suffering from a 'sugar overload' and nursing a swollen stomach. Ron's left arm had still not left Kim's shoulder, and neither of them saw any reason for the situation to change.

As the two stepped outside of the theatre, they were greeted by a mild June breeze. It had only recently started getting much, much warmer outside during the day, which left the evening temperatures just perfect for a long slow ride home in Ron's mind.

"So, that was a nice movie… I guess." Ron interjected, hesitant to admit he hadn't paid attention to a single minute of it.

"Oh, you didn't like it?"

"Well you know me and romance, KP. Its not that I mind it, I just don't like it much in my movies." At this Ron slowly leaned his face inward to meet Kim's. "Now outside the movies however…"

Ron left his thought unfinished as the two parted their lips, preparing for an embrace, only to be interrupted by an all too familiar chime coming from Kim's purse.

The two paused awkwardly, remaining perfectly still and silent in the hopes that the sound would not return if they just remained completely frozen in time and space. But when the Kimmunicator chimed yet again, the two let out a simultaneous sigh as Kim reached in to answer.

"Hey Wade, what's the sitch?" Kim asked struggling to hide her disappointment at Wade's timing.

On the small video monitor in her hand, the image of Team Possible's high tech and gizmo expert extraordinaire came through clearly.

"Hey Kim. Oh, hey Ron. Uhh, is this a bad time?" Wade asked guiltily as realization slowly dawned on him.

"Why no, not at all." Ron grabbed the Kimmunicator in frustration, speaking clearly and forcefully at the image of his friend on the screen. "It's only a Saturday night, why would this be a bad time to call. I mean it's not like we would be _in the middle of anything important_, now is it?" Ron asked through gritted teeth.

Kim decided to step in before the situation got even more awkward. "So Wade, sitch?"

"Uh, yeah. Listen guys, I know the timing isn't great…"

"No, it's just perfect, really." Ron interrupted, still fuming.

"… but there was just a robbery over at Mil-Tech Research and Development. They're only located a few blocks away from your location. They do a lot of work for the military and most of it is high tech and highly classified."

"So, someone's stealing top secret weapons in the middle of the night?" Kim asked.

"Don't know. Whatever happened, they're keeping a lid on it. There wasn't even any formal alarm over the public channels or anything."

"So then how do you know that there was a break-in in the first place?"

"You probably don't want to know the answer to that, just in case you ever get asked." Wade responded with a slightly devious grin on his face.

"Oh come on, can't we just leave this one to the cops? Just this once? Isn't that what I pay taxes for?" Ron pleaded to no one in particular. After the incident with Arch Villain, Ron was prepared to sit back and let the world take care of itself for just one night.

For a brief moment, the two stared at each other as if contemplating hanging up on Wade, when something caught their attention. The two were able to look up to the top of a nearby building just in time to see a shadowed figure leaping from rooftop to rooftop in an obvious hurry.

Kim and Ron looked at each other for all of a moment, each knowing exactly what the other was thinking. "You go catch the bad guy; I'll call your dad and let him know what's up." Ron finally broke the silence with a small grin.

Kim's only response was a smile. Leaning in, she quickly gave Ron a kiss on the cheeks before running off. Ron sighed, and then took off in the opposite direction.


	3. Rooftop Chase

The figure moved quietly across the city's skyline, his footsteps quick and strong but silent none the less. He leapt through the night sky, devoid of fear, cutting through the wind effortlessly, before finally landing on another rooftop. For a moment, he paused, stopping to examine a small object in his hand, his 'prize' for the evening's efforts.

"You know, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that that's not yours." A young voice spoke from out of the night. As if from nowhere, Kim Possible leapt out of the shadows, landing directly in front of the masked figure. If this arrival came as any shock to the figure, it was concealed behind his orange and black mask. "Now look, I'm in the middle of something very important, so if you just kindly hand that over, I'll let the police know how cooperative you were, and …"

The figure's only response was to turn away and begin running again.

"… we can all go home. sigh" Kim rolled her eyes before chasing after the figure.

-----------------------------------------------------

"So anyway, bad dude stealing cool stuff. Love to stay and chat but I got to go help Kim. Thanks a bunch Dr. P." Ron had just finished with a rather hurried explanation of why the couple might be home a little late, which now, he realized as he put the phone down on its receiver, left him only with the task now of actually finding Kim. As he stood in the middle of downtown Middleton, he came to the uncomfortable conclusion that Kim could have covered a rather impressive distance in the short amount of time he had let her out of his sight, and he wasn't entirely sure in which direction she had taken off in in the first place, or how to even begin searching for her.

Fortunately, the night was about to give Ron its small blessing. As he searched the city skyline, his attention was captured by two featureless shadows bounding from rooftop to rooftop, one in pursuit of the other.

"Kim!" Ron exclaimed in a whisper. Without another word or thought, Ron jumped aboard his moped, and sped off after the pair; 'sped' being as relative as one can get considering the humble limits of Ron's bike.

-----------------------------------------------------

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. This feeling continued to haunt Kim's mind even as she continued her pursuit of the mysterious thief in the night. So far, the masked figure had lead Kim in one big circle around Middleton's business district, making no real effort to loose her amidst the shadows or buildings. In fact, the masked man seemed perfectly content to just run around all night with Kim close behind him, and although she couldn't be sure, she seemed to get the feeling that those powerful looking legs of his were not carrying him as fast as they could be. He seemed to be pacing himself very well… was that his plan? To try and outlast her in a footrace across rooftops? If that was the case, they were going to be at this all night, Kim noted to herself. She certainly had the experience and endurance to keep this up a long while longer. Yet neither did her prey seem to be tiring. He just kept his steady, unyielding pace a few footsteps ahead of her.

Finally, his pace broke. Kim was caught by surprise as the masked man sprinted forward, leaping from one building to the top of a nearby run down warehouse. Kim struggled to keep up with him, only just managing to catch sight of him jumping down through the warehouse's skylight and out of her sight.

After making the jump herself, Kim paused as she reached the skylight. This was obviously an ambush of some kind. Kim was meant to follow in blindly, only to get struck from behind in the dark. Still, she knew it would be a mistake to let this creep out of her sight for too long. Pausing for only a moment as if to ready herself for whatever came next, she tensed her muscles and then leapt down into the darkness.

Kim landed squarely on a walkway over looking the largely hallowed out remains of the warehouse. Kim's instincts immediately brought her to her guard, scanning the room for her prey.

She didn't have far to look.

Sure enough, just a few feet away from her on the walk, standing perfectly upright and still was her quarry. His single eye seemed to bore inside her soul with cruel intent, and it was only too apparent that he had been waiting patiently for her. If he was experiencing any fatigue or exhaustion from their race across the rooftops of downtown Middleton, it wasn't showing. In fact, it was hard to tell whether or not he was even breathing at all behind that mask.

Kim tensed herself, readying for battle. A sickly feeling inside her told her it was unavoidable. "I don't suppose that I could convince you to just return what you've stolen and come along quietly?" Kim asked, her own voice quite unconvinced itself.

For the first time, Kim could see just what had been stolen as the masked figure held up a small disc in between his right fingers. "This? This is merely a prototype of data suppression code. Technology capable of storing massive amounts of data on something as simple and small as a floppy disk. Virtually every data smuggling organization or party in the world would kill to get their hands on it. In the right circles, it's worth a small fortune."

With that, the masked figure simply proceeded to enclose his entire hand around the disc, crushing it easily into small, harmless fragments that fell worthlessly onto the floor of the catwalk. Kim barely had time to appreciate this as she noticed that the figure had already reached behind his back with his left hand and produced some kind of remote control. With the single push of a button, Kim became aware of massive steel doors slamming shut all over the warehouse, echoing with a sound that sealed not only the entire warehouse and every one of its possible entrances and exits, including the skylight that the two had just crashed through, but also Kim's only hope out with them.

"I, however, have set my sights on something far more valuable."


	4. Introductions Made

Lights slowly came on throughout the warehouse, dimly illuminating the surroundings that were to be their battlefield. Kim could tell that the masked man had obviously taken some care with this operation. The robbery, the chase, all of it had just been an elaborate trap… all for her. Kim was used to having bad people try to get to her, but not when they were someone she hadn't met before. A sixth sense within her told her that this masked man was more than just some pathetic fan like Arch Villain, yet he had exclusively set his sights on her as his target, and that gave Kim a sick sensation in her stomach.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Slade." The figure responded as he began moving purposefully towards Kim. "However, you will call me 'Master.'"

"As if." Kim tried to respond casually, struggling to suppress the growing fear within her. There was something different about this 'Slade.' Something crueler, colder, than any villain she had ever met before.

"Actually young lady, that wasn't a request."

Slade's right arm shot out like bullet, connecting squarely with Kim's jaw, sending her stumbling back. He quickly followed up with a foot swipe but Kim recovered in time to leap over the attack, and over her opponent, landing behind him on the catwalk.

Kim moved on to the offensive, leaping forward, hoping to land a dropkick with her right leg. But Slade saw the attack coming, and ducked it. As Kim came down, landing on her feet, she brought herself upright only in time to be on the receiving end of a roundhouse kick that knocked her back, forcing her to struggle for footing by grabbing one of the catwalk's guard rails.

-----------------------------------------------------

Ron searched downtown frantically for any signs of Kim and her mysterious thief. Yet the skyline was empty. Even the streets themselves were practically devoid of people, save for a few struggling to get home.

He had stopped to ask if any of them had seen his girlfriend jumping through the air after some thug with a fancy hi-tech military toy, but every one of them had given him weird looks before hurrying themselves in another direction.

This was going nowhere. He could spend all night searching Middleton and never come up with anything. His heart began to speed up, sweat pouring from every pore in his body. He had to find her. He just had too.

However, the night was once more prepared to smile down on Ron Stoppable, and give him its blessing yet again. As Ron continued to ride down the streets, his eyes came across a most unusual sight.

An old warehouse stood just a few yards down the street, otherwise un-remarkable amidst its other abandoned brethren, save for one important distinction. Fresh, new steel doors and shields had been placed over all windows and entrances into the building.

If there was ever a sign of something out of place, that was it. It was also Ron's only lead.

-----------------------------------------------------

Slade reeled back from the kick, quickly composing himself in time to dodge one of Kim's punches, and another, and another. The last blow, Slade caught with his right hand, which he then snapped forward. The sound of bone cracking within Kim's hand echoed throughout the empty structure, yet Kim struggled to throw it off.

Slade kicked outward again without hesitation, yet Kim was able to back flip out of its way, and out of Slade's range. She was desperate to try and buy herself some breathing space, but Slade seemed in no mood to accommodate.

Kim leapt onto the catwalk's railing, balancing herself perfectly, perched in anticipation. Slade tried to bring his fist down right on top of her, but Kim leapt into the air again, dodging the monstrous fist which came crashing down, bending and distorting the metal railing with frightening ease and power.

Slade looked up to find Kim again, only to see her foot come crashing down into his face. The blow knocked Slade back and gave Kim an opening as she landed a roundhouse kick to Slade's gut.

Kim tried to follow through with another kick, but Slade had already recovered, and grabbed Kim's foot rather simply with his hand. Slade threw the foot up into the air with all his force, but Kim's experienced body knew how to react, moving in flow with the momentum which she turned into a back flip carrying her at least fifteen feet into the air before almost landing a few feet back, which was exactly what Slade had wanted.

Kim's feet were an inch from the ground before Slade ran forward, knocking her hard out of the air and back to the ground with a painful thud. Kim couldn't tell if she had broken anything in the fall, and she knew she wouldn't have time to find out. She was fighting mostly on instinct here, her body relying on physical memory rather then her own judgment. She wasn't used to fighting in this poor light, it could be difficult at times to keep track of Slade's movements. Not that it wasn't hard enough to begin with. He was an incredible fighter, easily the best she had ever come across. This realization filled her with a fear that she struggled to keep down.

In a fight like this, fear would be the first thing to kill you.

-----------------------------------------------------

Ron slammed uselessly on the metal doors. Inside, he could clearly hear the sounds of fighting (he recognized the sounds all too well in fact) and something that had sounded like a scream from Kim. Yet for all his determination to get inside, the doors would not budge in response.

Still, Ron would not be denied. Calming his mind for a moment, he wiped away all fear and uncertainty. Kim was counting on him. He would never let her down.

Ron took in his situation. Those doors were solid and thick. It would take a bulldozer to get through them, at least. And he was exactly one bulldozer short. In fact, since they hadn't geared for any missions for tonight, the only thing that Ron had with him was his mopped… with the Tweeb's rockets still attached to them.

Ron's mind began to race.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kim ducked out of the way of another punch, then backed from another, then taking another step back, leapt in perfect form off the walkway and to the ground below. She needed more room to maneuver, and the catwalk was forcing her to fight Slade head on, a situation which seemed painfully to his advantage.

Kim barely had time to blink before Slade landed effortlessly a few feet away from her. She needed to buy time. Needed to gather herself. He was clearly an opponent who knew her, perhaps all too well. Yet she knew nothing about him.

"What do you want?" Kim demanded fiercely, still biting back the fear threatening to reveal itself in her voice.

"Isn't it obvious, Kim?" Slade's voice continued to echo throughout the entire warehouse. "I want you. And what I want, I take."

-----------------------------------------------------

Ron took a few deep breathes as he readied his moped, its engine humming lightly. Ron looked down at Rufus, who was all set.

This was not going to be pretty. Ron had not really used the rockets that the Possible family had welded to his bike since the night of the Diablo incident. Kim's father had assured Ron that the J-25 rocket fuel in the rockets would last Ron long enough for him to enter standard orbit and then make a controlled re-entry and landing in Cape Canaveral. At least, that's what the fuel had been designed for. Ron had never really found this fact very comforting, and so had resisted the urge to use them at all costs.

But something else that Ron had remembered from his physics class was entering his mind too. As long as an object was propelled by enough force, it could theoretically penetrate anything. Ron had actually found this bit of fact to be quite interesting. The idea of blasting a penny through twenty feet of concrete had especially appealed to him as an interesting science project. Now however, he had something else in mind.

He couldn't be sure how thick those doors were, but he guessed they were at least a half a foot of solid steel. Ron had no idea how much force would be needed to take his bike through those warehouse doors. But the walls of the warehouse might not be so reinforced. They would just be regular plaster, wood, and probably some aluminum siding.

"Hang on Kim" Ron whispered, "I'm coming."

-----------------------------------------------------

The two fighters had both taken at least half a dozen solid shots. Slade, for all appearances, seemed completely unfazed. Kim was showing it. It had been a long day to begin with, and she had relaxed herself for a quiet evening with Ron, not for a fight for her life with someone like Slade. He never let up, never once dropping his guard. He was cold, methodical, and patient. He could wear her down, and then strike only at the perfect moment.

Even as he began his slow march towards, Kim winced at the thought of what was to come.

-----------------------------------------------------

Ron braced himself at the thought of what was about to come.

"Ok Rufus. Hit it!"

The naked mole rat obeyed, kicking the rockets attached to the moped and causing them to roar to life. Rufus leapt off the bike and to the ground as scorching flames from the rocket threatened to roast the little guy right then and there.

Rufus made it to the concrete unharmed, and then looked up in time to see the relatively tiny rockets produce a tail twice their size as they roared off, carrying a screaming Ron and his small bike with them.

Ron fought down the urge to cover his eyes and leap for his life. Something much more important than himself was on the line here. He steadied his course and then… impact.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kim nearly blinked at Slade's approach. She was prepared for the worst, but not the sight of an all too familiar moped, carrying an even more familiar screaming blonde haired man, crashing through the side of the warehouse. Ron was just able to leap off the rocket bike and roll to the floor of the warehouse even as the bike cruised forward like a missile towards Slade.

A look of surprise was visible even through Slade's mask as he was hit head on with the bike, and went crashing into a pile of boxes at the far end of the warehouse.

One of the boxes was sent flying through the air, finally landing a few feet away from Kim, spilling its contents onto the floor. Nothing more than nuts and bolts and a few other minor shop accessories.

Kim looked back to see Slade lurching to his feet, obviously in pain. The bike hadn't had enough opportunity to build up speed, and though it had managed to crash the wall, the impact had slowed it down considerably. Still, that had been enough to slow down Slade, for the moment. But he obviously wasn't done, and what he would do to Ron… Kim had to act.

Kim thought for a moment about the largely, still undisturbed pile of boxes near Slade. Most likely filled with more nuts and bolts, all rusted, useless, worthless, dead weight. It was this last quality that Kim was interested in most. Sprinting forward, Kim leapt into the air, dive kicking the tower of boxes in the right spot, causing them to slowly tip over in just the direction Kim wanted. Slade looked up in obvious surprise once again as the shadow of the boxes fell over him, finally to come crashing down with a loud thud, burying Slade beneath them.

Kim still remained tensed for a full minute longer, waiting, searching for some sign of movement or stirring, and yet finding only silence and stillness. Finally convinced that Slade was down, Kim allowed her body to relax, and in that moment, the pain of her numerous bruises and injuries came pouring through her as if someone had opened a dam. She let out a small cry as she fell to her knees, trying desperately to hold herself up.

"Kim!"

Ron picked himself up and ran over to her side, offering his aide in helping her to her feet.

"Kim, Kim! Are you ok? Quick, what color is my hair? How many fingers am I holding up? How many hairs does Rufus have? Kim!" Ron asked questions at three a second, and Kim didn't have time to answer them all.

"Ron, I'm ok, I'm ok. Really." Kim answered half heartedly, still looking away, bent over in pain. "I'm…" Kim finally raised her face to see the concern in Ron's eyes. For a minute, she allowed herself to bask in them, before finally convincing herself of the truth. "I'm ok." She answered, this time with a warm smile across her face. Reaching out, she gave Ron a large hug, and allowed herself to be embraced in his arms in response. "I'm ok, really."


	5. Musings and Beatings

Kim leaned on Ron's shoulders as he helped her out of the warehouse. As the two exited through the sizeable hole in the wall left by Ron's poor moped, they were greeted by a full company of military vehicles and soldiers.

_Typical_, Kim thought to herself. _Just as soon as everything is over._

"Team Possible," a tall older looking man bearing, Kim noted, the rank of a Colonel walked up to the limping pair. "May I assume you are responsible for the apprehension of the thief who broke into our facility earlier this evening and made off with government property?"

"Yes sir, he's inside." Kim pointed to the building the young couple had just come out of.

"Along with what's left of my bike." Ron added. "Oh my poor sweet ride, it was too beautiful for this world."

"Oooh, so sad." Rufus added, having already scampered up the side of Ron's shirt to his shoulder. For a minute, the colonel gave Kim a questioning look, and then dismissed the matter entirely as he ushered in several soldiers through the side of the wall.

Ron led Kim over to a nearby jeep where a medic had already taken it upon himself, having observed Kim's limped state, to retrieve a first aide kit. Ron, for himself, was refusing all medical treatment until he was completely sure that Kim was alright, and that they weren't going to give him any shots.

Kim bit down the urge to let out a slight yelp as the medic applied some disinfectant to a small bruise just under her neck. For the most part, Kim looked fine externally. It was under the skin that the damage had been done. She couldn't tell whether or not any bones were broken, but it sure felt like it, or that they were ready to snap if Kim so much as laughed, hiccupped, burped, blinked or even breathed. Her stomach had also taken somewhat of a brutal punishment, and she suddenly realized that she was having a hard time taking deep breathes. Her ribs were sore too, especially the lower. At instruction, Kim lifted up the bottom half of her shirt to allow the medic to bandage them. A temporary solution, until she could get properly treated. Kim could only imagine the fuss this was going to cause when she had to explain to her mom that she was probably going to need X-rays.

"Sir, there's no one inside!" a lieutenant shouted from inside the warehouse. At the sound of this, Kim's bruises became immaterial, her pain a memory. She quickly stood up and ran inside the warehouse, leaving the protests of both the medic and Ron echoing behind her.

Passing several soldiers, and bumping into most of them as she ran, Kim returned only faint apologies as she moved over to the area where she had left Slade buried. Sure enough, rusted bolts and nuts were scattered all over the ground, and the boxes were messily piled atop of one another just as she remember, but no Slade.

Kim let out a silent shudder in her breath. Somehow, she was not surprised.

-----------------------------------------------------

"Shego, this is intolerable." Dr. Drakken insisted as he paced back and forth within his laboratory tirelessly. Meanwhile, the very woman that he was busy berating sat calmly in a nearby chair, her feet propped up on a console as she casually filed her nails. "How could you fail me like this?"

"Hey, what more do you want me to say? Someone got there before me, and managed to hit every alarm possible on their way out. By the time I got there, the whole place was swarming with soldiers." Shego paused to examine an ugly hang nail on her left middle finger.

"But that shouldn't matter. You're supposed to be the best." Drakken turned to berate her some more, only just in time to see a blast of green energy flying squarely at his face. The mad scientist barely managed to keep his face from being scorched at the expense of his hair, which was now a frightful mess, standing up on ends, with even a few hairs on fire. He quickly looked up to see a scowl on Shego's face, her right hand still glowing with a familiar emerald energy. "Err, not that you're not the best." Drakken hurriedly explained. "But I needed the experimental new fusion power source that Mil-Tech was developing for my new plan."

"You speak as if your plan ever had a chance for success. Alas, it would surely have been yet another of countless failures that marks your pitiful existence." The voice responding was not Shego's. In fact, it echoed throughout the entire room with a malice that neither had ever encountered before.

Both Drakken and Shego looked up to see a single intruder standing overhead atop a series of large pipes that ran across the top of the chamber, clad in grey armor and black cloth that almost camouflaged him were it not for his face masked save for a single eye patch.

Shego quickly leapt from her seat, both her hands glowing with violent green energies. Drakken was the first to speak however. "Who are you? How did you get in here without setting of a dozen alarms?"

At this, Shego turned and looked at Drakken incredulously.

"Ok, half a dozen." Drakken admitted.

Slade's single eye seemed to bore into Drakken.

"Alright, just the one." Drakken confessed.

Shego's expression morphed into one of frustration.

"Look, the front door was locked!" Drakken protested.

"Time and time again, you have proven yourself a failure; your greatest efforts have served as nothing more than a nuisance to Kim Possible. Unfortunately, you are a nuisance I cannot afford to have in my path at the moment." At this, Slade dropped down, landing in front of the pair.

Drakken's response was simple and straightforward.

"Shego!"

On cue, the green and black clad super villain leapt forward, attempting to land a kick to Slade's face. However, Slade merely sidestepped the attack. Shego came down to the ground and lashed out with her glowing right hand, threatening to sear the mask right off of Slade's face. Slade avoided the attack however and took the opening provided to land a solid uppercut that lifted Shego straight off the ground, knocking her back to a nearby wall.

-----------------------------------------------------

There was an uneasy silence as Ron and Kim walked back home. Ron was still unsure as to exactly why the pair had refused the military's offer for a free ride home, especially since his own ride would not be useable again any time… well, ever. Moreover, the longer that the two continued to walk, the more and more that Ron felt he really should be saying something. He had never seen his best friend, or girlfriend for that matter, like this. She seemed bummed, but about what, he couldn't tell.

Ok, so there was a new super villain in town. Granted, that wasn't the sort of thing he and Kim threw a celebration over. But it wasn't like this sort of thing ever got her down before. How many life threatening situations that would have reduced most grown men to whimpers had Kim braved through without breaking a sweat? Certainly more than Ron could keep track of. It wasn't that nothing ever got to Kim. School work, boys, that kind of stuff could put Kim in a deep fluke, but super villains, not once. At least, not like this.

Kim could tell that she was making Ron uncomfortable as they walked. She wasn't trying to push him away; she just needed to wrestle with her own emotions right now as they continued to replay the evening's events again and again in her mind. She had left herself walk right into a trap; worse, a trap that she had seen coming. She allowed herself to charge headlong against a new villain that she knew nothing about and what was worse, she had allowed herself to be afraid. Stupid, stupid. She knew better than that. More than anything, Kim knew that fear was the most dangerous, most unnecessary distraction in any situation like that. Yet, just because some new whacko had steel doors installed and talked like the freaking Terminator, she had allowed herself to get all worked up like it was the end of everything.

Her muscles ached, another painful reminder of her failure. It wasn't the bruises that got her down, it was the fight. She should have done better, she should have taken Slade. Sure, he was good. Sure, they had been fighting on his turf, and sure, she hadn't really been expecting a fight. Those weren't excuses. She should have taken him down. Next time, next time she would do better. Next time, she would beat him. There would be a next time of course, of that, she was certain. And this thought filled her with anticipation and dread all at once.

A thousand mental and emotional conflicts raged on in Kim's mind, and not one of them had resolved itself by the time they reached Kim's front door. No sooner had Ron, rather hesitantly, knocked on the door, than Kim's parents had answered in quite a worry.

"Oh Kim, you're alright. We got a call from your friend, Wade. Quick, come in. We need to take a look at you." Kim's mother was even worse than Ron had been with concern for Kim, quickly ushering her inside, leaving Ron on the front door step without so much as a word goodbye.

"Ronald, you might want to come inside too, that bump on your head doesn't look too pretty." James Possible added as well, gesturing for Ron to come inside. Ron had been so worried, he hadn't even bothered to notice the ugly discolored swelling on his forehead. And he had to admit, he wouldn't mind an excuse to say good night to Kim, but he knew his friend, his girlfriend, all too well. If she hadn't said anything to him all the way back home, she wasn't going to say anything now. Whatever flunk she was in, she wasn't coming out of it tonight.

"Thanks Dr. P, but I'll put some ice on it when I get home." Ron assured the father of the house, before waving goodnight. As the door slowly closed, Ron kept expecting, hoping for some kind of farewell or goodnight from a certain young redhead. Instead, he was met with only the sound of the Possible house front door closing shut before him. Ron gave out a simple sigh, before turning around and heading home.

-----------------------------------------------------

A blast of green energy singed the side of Slade's left arm. Another glowing fist passed within a hair of his mask, followed by a kick to the gut that Slade managed to block with his right arm. Slade then lashed out, grabbing both of Shego's glowing hands, each by the wrist, just below the swirling green energy that radiated out from her palms.

"I need only apply enough pressure, and bones start breaking." Slade stated coldly through his mask, his grip calmly but forcefully increasing. Despite Shego's struggles, Slade remained unflinching, keeping his iron hold on her. "What I break after that, I haven't decided yet. I certainly have a few options."

Shego struggled with all her strength, yet Slade's grip continued. Slowly, a cracking sound could be heard coming from her wrists. His grip was like steel, it was inhuman. Pain began to radiate throughout her person until she simply couldn't take it anymore.

"P-please…"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you." Slade punctuated himself by tensing his grip on Shego's right wrist so as to emit a large cracking sound from it.

"Pl-please stop. Please." Shego let out a pitiful screech as Slade tightened his grip even further, only to release a split second later. Satisfied in his own victory, Slade allowed Shego to fall to the ground in defeat, only to turn around and face Drakken, whose jaw had dropped at the fall of his most trusted bodyguard.

"Your lackey has been defeated, and we both know she was the only credible threat of the two of you." Slade walked up until he found himself standing directly in front of Drakken, face to mask. "Now, get out."

Dr. Drakken felt a sharp pain burn across his cheek as Slade simply, but forcefully, slapped him aside. The blow was yet strong enough to knock Drakken back, leaving him speechless, almost.

"How dare you think to invade my lair and beat up my lackeys? By the time I'm done with you, you'll be begging me for mercy that I don't even have!" Drakken's voice found itself gaining confidence by the second as he backed towards a nearby control panel. Without hesitation, he pressed down for his life on a lone, rather large red button.

All at once, four distinct hatches opened throughout the walls of the lair, each one revealing its own laser cannon, all four of which quickly tracked Slade, each one marking him with a red laser scope.

"Any last words?" Drakken asked smugly.

However, Slade's response was not a vocal one. He merely reached into his pocket, producing a small remote, decorated only with a single large button. It was a detonator!

As Slade activated the device, a powerful explosion could be heard in the distance within the lair, approximately around the location of the generator, Drakken noted to himself mentally. Instantly, the lights and consoles of the room went dead, the laser scopes of the four cannons lost their mark.

"I won't go to the trouble of repeating myself." Slade responded coldly to Drakken's unvoiced protests.

Slade suddenly leapt up in the air, avoiding Shego's desperate tackle from behind. Shego struggled to bring herself to a grinding halt in mid charge. She looked up to track Slade's movements even as he completed a perfect flip in mid leap before bringing his right foot up and into Shego's face, knocking her down to the ground once again. Slade landed perfectly on the ground, not even taking in an extra breath.

"Leave that as you go." Slade added, pointing to Shego's beaten form on the floor. "I have spared her life, it belongs to me now."

Drakken struggled desperately to think of something, anything. But thinking had never really been his strong point, especially not in a crisis. His mind strained to determine a way to outmaneuver this new enemy. He was no fighter, he could never even open the cap on an aspirin bottle ('child' proof his left foot). Now, his lair had been penetrated, seemingly without effort, and he found himself alone. No one left to protect him, and the stakes now were higher than mere jail. Of all the times that he had been defeated by Kim Possible, never once had he felt his life was in jeopardy, except of course for those few occasions where it was of his own doing. But Slade played by different rules, and for different stakes.

To his side, Shego desperately reached out into the air, extending her hand for his aide, aide that he truly could not give that would be of any consequence. He had always looked to her when things got tough. Now, the shoe was on the other foot, and he could think of only one thing to do.

"I- I'm sorry Shego."

"Dr. D…" but Shego's pleas fell upon deaf ears as Drakken, his head slumped in defeat, walked towards the exit.

Slade had watched this quaint little drama play itself out. Now, satisfied, he walked over and knelt down besides Shego's whimpering form.

"Now then, why don't we have a little talk, about Kim Possible?"


	6. Friend In Need

The expression 'slow day' was rarely found in Kim Possible's daily dictionary. If she wasn't jetting off to some new location around the globe to save it, then she was always keeping busy. Working on school, practicing to keep in shape, helping her community, whatever she could think of, she was always on the move. Kim definitely did not like to sit still.

Today, however, had been different. She had sat inside her room almost all day, waiting patiently for Wade to contact her with some news of this 'Slade' she had fought with the night before. Any news of him in any government bureaus, world law enforcement agencies, mention in the tabloids, anything! But for the past seven hours since Kim had spoken with him, Wade had managed to turn up nothing. Certainly a new record for the boy genius, one that Kim would have preferred not seen set.

Kim had tried, and failed miserably, to occupy her mind and time since by working on her gymnastic routines, hoping perhaps to come up with a few new cheers for the upcoming school year. Yet neither her mind nor her body was in the mood. She had fallen flat on her face more than once over the course of the afternoon's workout, and if Bonnie or anyone else on the planet for that matter had seen her, they'd have never even believed she was qualified to be a cheerleader in the first place. However, for now, she was cutting off all contact from the outside world, thus eliminating all chances of such a social nightmare, which included Ron.

It hadn't been easy. Ron had called the house time and time again asking about her, and Kim had been forced to plead with her mother to lie for her to Ronald. When Kim's mother had blatantly refused the job, along with her father, she delegated the task to her brothers, who even they seemed rather disheartened about the task.

"_I'm not pushing him away."_ She insisted to herself, even as she looked up within her room, over to her nightstand to see a picture of the two, taken years ago, after Ron's horrific experience at Camp Wannaweep. _"I'm just…..I just need to get my head in the game. I just need to think."_

Unfortunately, this was entirely the problem. All she could think of, all that she had thought of all day was him. Slade. What was it about him anyway? That he was a good fighter? That he only had one eye? What was it? Why did he reach in so deep where no one else had, and find a scared little girl instead of a strong young heroine?

Kim came out of her troubled brooding just long enough to realize that her room had suddenly gotten very dark. As she looked out her windows, she could see that the sun had apparently long since set. How long had she been sitting there like this? Had she really been there, unmoving, all day? She somehow felt she'd rather not know. Yet, as it occurred to her to turn on some lights, she decided against it. She just continued to sit in the dark.

Kim's mind suddenly focused on a distant sound in the house; a familiar knocking coming from the front door. Kim didn't need to wait for the faint greeting from her mother, or the cheerful response of the visitor to know who it was. Frankly, Kim was amazed he hadn't been over sooner, even though she'd been glad of it.

Without moving an inch, Kim tracked the footsteps through the house, leading right up to her door. A tapping came from the other side, and when she gave no response, the door knob turned of its own accord, affording entrance to a blonde haired young man sporting a familiar, goofy grin.

"You know, Thomas Edison did not play in the rain with his house key and a kite just so that you could sit around in the dark, young lady." Ron announced cheerfully, turning on some lights within the room, which caused Kim to momentarily wince at the bright needles stabbing fiercely into her eyes as penance for wasting an entire day away from him, sitting on her bed, being all moody.

"Didn't my brothers tell you that I'm not home?" Kim asked with only a feint of her usual humor.

"Kim, you're brothers may know how to reroute the Middleton power grid every year for Christmas, but they are still very bad at lying. Feeling down?" Ron responded.

"Only a few thousand feet below sea level." Kim sighed, leaning back into her pillows.

"Well don't worry, because the Ron man has just the remedy for the blues." Ron added triumphantly. For the first time, Kim noticed that he had one of his hands concealed behind his back, even as he walked over to her bed. "Now I know that since you have a brain surgeon for a mother, you've probably heard the expression that an apple a day, keeps the doctor away…"

"Only about seven hundred and thirty times a year since I was three." Kim did the quick tally aloud.

"… But in the Stoppable household, there is only one cure for the blues. Fresh baked cookies!" Ron exclaimed as he produced a tray filled with home baked goodies. Chocolate chip even, her favorite.

Even Kim could not restrain her surprise at this. If there was one talent of her boyfriend's that was undisputable in the entire world, it was his prowess in the kitchen. Kim's nose took in the tantalizing aroma as it rose from the plate, lifting Kim's mood along with it.

"Those smell amazing!" Kim could scarcely restrain herself from devouring the entire contents of the plate all at once, until she noticed a certain naked mole rat leap out of his resting place within Ron's pants pocket and dive straight for the mountain of baked goods.

"Mmhhmm, cookies! Oh boy." Rufus was cut off as Ron's hand darted in front of the pink blur, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Rufus, no! Those are for Kim. I already baked you three dozen to keep you from chowing down on these!" Ron's voice was stone cold and unbreakable.

"More. Ooooh, please." Rufus pleaded, but to no avail. Ron did not flinch.

"You're way too hard on the little guy you know." Kim bemused, her gloomy mood had completely vanished in the presence of the slight comedy unfolding before her. "It's not like anyone in their right mind could resist these anyway." She teased, picking up one of the treats for herself.

"Well I don't like to brag KP, but I definitely added my own special ingredient of NACHO CHEESE!" Ron suddenly exclaimed.

"Nacho cheese?" Kim added, looking at the cookie almost hesitantly. But before she had time to question his sudden outburst, Ron had raced from her bedside to her desk, frantically searching for a pencil and paper. Kim took the opportunity to toss Rufus the cookie that she had in hand. The naked mole rat consumed the baked delight in one swallow, taking no bother to chew, before falling over to his side, moaning 'oooh boy, one too many' in a slow agony. Ron had still taken no notice of any of this, and instead was writing something out on a spare note of paper with a passion that Kim had certainly never seen of him when they did their homework.

"Uh Ron, what are you working on?"

"Nacho cheese, KP. Don't you see? That's it. That's what my Super Taco Split has been so vitally missing! Oh, and the answer was so simple, how could I have not seen it? This masterpiece will single-handedly save Beuno Nacho once and for all!" Ron exclaimed with pride.

Kim could only help but smile at her boyfriend's determination. For weeks now, Ron had been desperate to cook up some sort of fantastic, miracle recipe to re-boost Beuno Nacho and keep the company from bankruptcy. It seemed that having a deranged mad scientist plunder the company's stock value to mass produce countless tiny, cybertronic killing machines with no plans of any sort of return revenue or profit was not the brightest corporate strategy the world had ever seen. Ever since the Diablo Disaster, the company had been announcing massive cuts in all areas, closing down different locations, laying off thousands of employees and many had feared that the company was a bad day away from declaring chapter eleven. Ron and Kim had only been grateful that the local branch had managed to stay open, but they had feared the worst. Ron had been hard at work designing another Mexican miracle for the company, one that might actually bring some value back to the company's stock, and keep it afloat.

Kim sighed, smiling widely as she watched her boyfriend furiously taking down notes, as if the very thoughts in his mind held the key to the future of the human race, and looking away from his paper now would only cause them to be lost to all of time.

How did he do it? How did he, just by virtue of being him, by virtue of being there, make it all go away? All her worries, her fears, gone. And all because he wore that stupid smile on his face twenty four hours a day, and was always there for her when she needed him most.

Finally, Ron looked up from his notes to see Kim, staring at him almost dreamily.

"Uhh, KP, are you ok? I usually only get that look after someone's had my cooking, not before."

"How did you get to be such a perfect boyfriend?" Kim asked without missing a beat.

Ron was not expecting the question, and it showed by looking at him. Never the less, that didn't stop him from giving the only response that came to him. "Well KP, when you got the perfect girlfriend, you gotta be sure to keep up things on your end. It's only fair after all."

Kim gave him a smile that she reserved for only one person on the planet, then turned down to see the plate of unprotected, and relatively untouched cookies. Kim's mouth watered at the sight, silently berating her for leaving such a fine platter undisturbed. Grabbing the one at the top of the pile, Kim brought it to her and bit down.

Her response was immediate.

Without even bothering to finish the mouthful of cookie she had been so eager to devour, Kim dashed right across the room, pouncing right on top of Ron's unexpecting lap. Without warning, and against his as yet unvoiced protests, she pressed her crumb laden lips directly to his, wrapping her arms tightly around the back of his head, as the two shared what was left of Kim's first bite of cookie.

For a minute, neither of them moved… much. It was finally, slowly, over the approval of a certain naked mole rat watching the whole thing, that Kim pulled herself away from Ron, however reluctantly, wiping a spare crumb from the side of her face.

"Wow." At first, this was all that Ron could mutter, even as the two locked eyes for another half a minute before he was able to weakly muster the question "What was that for?"

"That was for the cookies." Kim replied with a devious grin on her face.

"Oh man, wait 'till you try my cupcakes."

Kim could only respond through a laughter that was soon shared by the both of them. Eventually, they regained composure over themselves, only to lean in and share yet another kiss.

By the time that Kim pulled herself away a second time, she had to be sure to take in a deep breath. As she did, a disturbing outline in the shadows outside caught her attention through her window.

"No." Came the faint whisper from Kim.

Ron looked at her in puzzlement, but before she could explain she was gone. With even greater speed than she had displayed to pounce him, Kim took off, bolting out her door and down the stairs for the back door.

Kim recognized the shadow outline all too well. She had only seen it one other time, but her instincts immediately knew its form.

It was him. He was here.


	7. Close And Personal

Kim's mind was a whirlwind of different emotions, none of which would be satisfied until she worked them out on Slade's face. As she made it outside, she scanned her surroundings. At first, nothing, stillness, only the ambient noises of the night time. But she would not be fooled. She knew what she saw, and she knew his type. He was here.

"Where are you? Show yourself." Kim announced to the breeze. Yet still, no response. She could only imagine how she must have looked to the casual observer, standing in her own backyard at night, shouting at shadows. But that didn't matter. Slade was here, at her house. And she would make sure it was the last mistake he ever made.

For a minute longer, there was still nothing.

Then… movement.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kim caught sight of a shadowed figure leap from out of the cover of a tree's branches and bound across the yard, leaping over the backyard fence and running off into the night.

Kim bounded off after it without a second's hesitation, covering the wooden fence just as easily, pacing herself as she followed the outline that she had come to recognize all too well.

Slade moved in and out of the shadows, as he led her across the back ways of the neighborhood before finally pausing before a large, undeveloped, untouched, area of woods. In the day light, Kim might have recognized this as a place where she and Ron had often played together as children.

Slade paused, turning for a moment to eye Kim. Kim's feet brought her to a grinding halt as she prepared herself for battle, every one of her muscles screaming for the chance, her bruises crying out for retribution.

But instead of fighting, Slade merely turned and leapt up into the branches of the trees, moving with amazing agility and grace for someone so powerful.

Kim followed suit, chasing afterwards with the same agility and grace, following in his steps branch for branch. Spare branches and pine needles cut at her cheeks and the exposed arms of her t-shirt, but she pushed them out of her mind. They were a small price to pay for the toll she planned to exact out of Slade's hide.

Finally, the chase came to a halt on the balance of a particularly large branch, as Slade paused for Kim to land before him. The two eyed each other warily.

"Impressive." Slade commented. "You did very well coming after me like this, especially after barely escaping from our last meeting."

Kim didn't say anything. She expressed herself through action far better. With a fierce cry, Kim let her comb fly straight from her hands, passing Slade's head as he dodged it, only to dig deeply into the trunk of the tree behind. The tips of the comb dug in with the sharpness of a blade.

"Why Kim, that was vicious, dishonorable and even quite deadly. Impressive. And to think, I never suspected you had it in you."

Slade's taunt did little except to provoke Kim further, as she charged forward to attack, lashing out with a right fist. However, Slade merely backed away from the attack, only to leap over her, landing squarely on the other side of the branch, before leaping off the branch completely, free falling to the ground below.

Kim did not hesitate to dive after him, feeling the rush of air in her face, letting the thrill take over her for a split second before she calmed her mind. On instinct, her hands brought themselves up, catching a nearby branch to slow her descent. Her body reacted of its own accord, perfectly moving in flow with the momentum, as she flipped over the branch, moving into a single gymnastic routine that would have won her the State Championship all over again as she landed squarely before Slade, who had clearly made the fall of his own somehow.

Slade reacted first this time, moving in with an opening punch. Kim ducked the blow, and swept out with her right leg, sweeping him clear off his feet. Slade leapt back to his feet in an instant, as Kim followed up with a kick to his face that landed squarely on target.

Slade reeled back from the blow, just in time to see Kim leap at him with a drop kick. Slade's arms shot out reflexively, catching Kim in mid-flight before swinging her around in the air and then straight into a nearby tree.

The force of this was enough to knock the fight right out of Kim. She was sure she had broken something this time.

"What do you want with me?" Kim asked, the fear that she had fought so hard to repress and conceal behind rage now bubbling visibly to the surface.

"Everything." Slade stated coldly. However he was cut off from saying more by a piercing scream that filled the air. Kim looked on in horror as Ron appeared directly behind Slade, brandishing a tree branch that he had found for himself as a weapon, which he smashed over Slade's backside.

The rotten wood shattered ineffectually, leaving Ron with a 'deer-in-the-headlights' look on his face as Slade turned, seemingly unfazed, towards him.

"Ah, and you must be the princess' knight in shinning armor. We have unfinished business, you and I." Slade turned away from Kim, moving slowly towards the young man backing away for his life.

"Well, I really think of myself as more of a court jester actually." Ron explained nervously. Slade seemed unamused.

"_Just a little further. Come on ugly."_ Ron's mind screamed at Slade. "So, I've been wondering. Do you have a big problem with depth perception, or is it just something you've learned to live with?" Ron asked weakly.Slade's only response was to knock Ron back a ways before causing him to stumble to the ground.

Kim struggled to push the pain out of her mind, yet her back screamed too loudly for her brain to tune out as she attempted to bring herself to her feet again. She was just able to look up in time to see something that took the breath away from her all over again. As Slade took another step towards Ron, a trip snare came to life, catching Slade's left leg in it, and lifting the masked villain up into the air, left to dangle seemingly helplessly.

"Oh booyah!" Ron exclaimed, looking up at his snared prize. "And only a summer of double arts and crafts from Camp Wannaweep under my belt. Too bad they don't give merit badges for this kind of thing."

Kim tried to shout out to warn Ron away but it was already too late. In a second of over confidence, Ron was blinded to Slade as he picked up a knife from within his belt and, in a single swift motion, cut the rope suspending him upside down in the air. Slade fell quickly to his feet and close lined Ron to the ground. The young man scarcely had a chance to let his breath out as Slade's right foot came down hard on Ron's throat, constricting his airways. Ron desperately tried to lift Slade off of him, but it felt like lifting an anvil.

"No… Ron." Kim whispered, as she brought herself to her feet once more, pain and all, to try and assist him. She felt herself brought to a grinding halt once again though as Slade spoke.

"Take one more step, and I'll crush his windpipe."

Kim tensed herself as if for combat. Taking in her situation, she tried desperately not to indicate even a fraction of the pain that she was in. She eyed Slade with fierce resolve before speaking again.

"I could stop you." She spoke with cold determination.

"Could you now?" Slade responded, punctuating himself by stepping into Ron just a little harder, forcing the young man to scream breathless cries for help. Yet Kim did not flinch or waver in her stance in any way.

"Yes. I could." She reaffirmed.

For the first time, it seemed that Slade was considering this as a viable possibility. "Hmm, perhaps you are correct dear child. After all, I've seen how fast you can move, and there are only a few precious feet between us. It seems unlikely that I'd be willing to sacrifice myself just to squash an insignificant insect…" Slade looked down at Ron as his lungs continued to gasp for precious air. "But you won't take that chance." Slade returned his gaze to Kim.

Kim's eyes only glared more deeply at Slade as he went on.

"No, you wouldn't dare risk the life of your lover just to strike down another mere super villain. The world is full of my kind, but him" Slade indicated to Ron. "Oh he's far too precious for you to risk. And that is why you will never truly win, Kim Possible."

Kim didn't respond. It looked like Slade was about to launch into some kind of monologue. If so, this would be her only chance to save Ron. For the time being, there was nothing she could do but listen, watch and wait for him to get so caught up in himself that he would make a mistake.

"As long as you live Kim, as long as you do the things you do, there will be others like me. Others willing to punish the ones you love for your own arrogance. Do you really think you can just fly off around the world, play super hero, and then return home like it was all a game? It's not enough that you are foolish enough to risk your own life in such a suicidal endeavor, you even bring along a companion for yourself, someone to entertain you as you travel. But do you really think its fair for you to play with his life, with the lives of your friends and family, just so that you can think of yourself as a hero."

Kim struggled to push Slade's words out of her mind. She knew what he was trying to do. Distract her, make her loose her guard while he twisted the truth of her life, all the while he was doing the exact same thing that she was, waiting for the right moment to strike. But something in her suddenly became very pensive.

"How many times has your boyfriend here been put in harms way simply for being your boyfriend? Can you even count all the occasions? What if I decided to crush his throat here and now, even at the cost to myself? Such a bright young man, cut down before the prime of his life, and all because of you."

Kim struggled in vain to push back tears beginning to form beneath her eyes. A deep fear was close to erupting within her, and it was all she could do to keep it down with each passing second. "You're the one with your foot over his lungs."

"I'm a villain, it's what I do." Slade stated in such a manner that Kim almost imagined him sneering beneath his mask. "But you, you pretend to be his friend, his lover even, and all the while you selfishly gamble with his life, all for your own personal gratification."

"Shut up." Kim could not keep this up for much longer. Even as he gasped for precious wisps of air, Ron could see Kim collapsing mentally before him. He needed to do something.

"You know it's true. One day, whether it's tonight, or even if you somehow manage to postpone it till later, he is going to die because you couldn't save him. It's inevitable. You're the reason that he's here right now, instead of at home, studying, trying to go out with some other girl, one more appreciative than you."

"SHUT UP." Tears began streaming out of her eyes. Kim couldn't take this much longer.

"How many others do you suppose will pay for your sins? Your mother? Your brothers? From your website, I gather that your father has already experienced the unpleasant consequences of raising a super hero for a daughter. It won't stop. It will never stop. As long as you live, you'll save countless strangers, and continue to bask in their meaningless praise. But all the while, the ones you love will be the ones to pay."

Ron knew he had to act, and fast. In desperation, his mind raced back to his training days in Yamanouchi. So long ago, yet so much of it seemed fresh in his mind. He remembered something that Sensei had once told him. 'For a true ninja, the body is the greatest weapon ever to be wielded in battle. All other so called 'weapons' are merely accessories, and unnecessary ones.' Ron had never really been able to follow this message entirely, but he got the gist of it, especially after he had seen the students there shatter stone blocks with their bare hands as part of their daily lessons. Ron had never really been able to perform that little miracle of martial arts, but he had often observed the technique.

Doing his best to imitate it, his hand tensed, his fingers shot straight. _"Not a hand."_ He told himself. _"A blade. My hand is a blade."_ Ron summoned all his power, knowing that it would mean his own end, or worse, if this didn't work. Uttering a silent prayer with breath he didn't have, his hand struck the meat just above Slade's kneecap.

The result was more than he had hoped.

Slade audibly cried out in pain as his foot released its hold on Ron. The blond haired man inhaled, his aching lungs taking in gasps of precious air once again.

Kim didn't have time to analyze what happened. She was in no mood to do so anyway. With all her anger, she struck out with a hard roundhouse to Slade's face, knocking him back, which she followed through with a strong punch straight to his gut.

Slade struggled to regain his composure, striking out with a solid slap that burned across Kim's cheek. But she merely threw it off as she leapt into the air, flipping over Slade and landing squarely behind him. In a single swift motion, she lifted a solid branch, one far sturdier and stronger than the one Ron had picked, off the ground and into her hand with her foot. She then turned to Slade.

"I'll say this once, so listen good." Kim slammed the branch into the side of Slade's still sore right leg, causing him to scream out in pain. "Stay away."

She attacked again; striking across Slade's masked face. "Stay away from my house." She lashed out this time into Slade's stomach. "Stay away from my boyfriend!" Once more, this time, Slade's left foot, causing him to bend over the ground, holding himself up with his arms. "Stay away from my family." Another shot, this time to his left arm. "And stay the hell away from me!" Kim cried out with an inhuman rage as she smashed the branch into splinters across Slade's face.

Slade fell to the ground, splinters of wood and the remnants of Kim's primitive club lay off to his sides. Yet still he moved. With a will and determination that Kim and Ron had simply never seen before, Slade brought himself to his knees.

"Well done Kim. I'm impressed." Even as he spoke, Slade slowly reached into his belt, striking a small switch, releasing a number of small pellets into his palm. Kim and Ron never saw this until it was too late. Slade threw the pellets to the ground, causing a grand cloud of smoke to rise up from the ground, completely obscuring him from all sight. The two didn't need to wait for the smoke to clear to know what had happened.

He was gone.

For a minute, there was an uneasy silence. Kim didn't say anything or move at all, even as Ron continued to lie on the ground, struggling to breathe. His gasps for air spoke volumes to Kim as Slade's words echoed in her mind.


	8. Bait And Switch

Shego adjusted the gloves on her new costume, resisting the urge to burn them to fragments as she did. Her new costume still incorporated the same color scheme as her old one, but the new design and the armor pads reminded her too much of him.

Slade.

She couldn't even think his name without having to strangle down the urge to vomit. Shego had worked with some pretty nasty types in her time, and had even once had the conviction to consider herself the worst of them all, but none compared to him. He was everything Drakken was not. Cold, ruthless even to those that served him, lethal, and inhumanely patient. Shego had once mused that she would have gladly left Drakken's employ to work with someone like him.

"_Guess the grass really is greener."_

"Disciple!" A metal voice boomed out of Shego's earpiece, interrupting her thoughts.

"_Take the tone with me again, and they'll be finding pieces of you for weeks."_ But Shego's wrists would not allow her mind to indulge in such a violent fantasy and brought her to attention.

"Yes." Shego answered rather simply.

On the other side of the line, the voice of her new master spoke. "The message has been delivered. Kim Possible is all ready. Do you have everything for your mission?"

"Oh please, it's just the sidekick. I could handle him with one arm, while sick in bed, and my eyes closed." Shego said with no small amount of modesty.

"Fail me, and I promise you, missing limbs will be the least of your ailments." With that, the radio went dead. Shego growled, and for a moment, considered grabbing the mini-microphone and crushing it to fragments, before melting the fragments to ooze. But something in her decided _"not yet. Not yet."_

-----------------------------------------------------

"You sure this lead is solid?" Kim asked with a fierce determination.

"Positive Kim." The image of Wade on the Kimmunicator came through loud and clear, even over the roar of the turbulence around her as Kim was on the edge of her seat in the cargo hold of a delivery plane flying over downtown Middleton. "The small stain that came off of Slade's boot on Ron's neck is actually a chemical compound used to lubricate automated assembly lines, and there just happens to be a recently abandoned assembly plant near the location of the warehouse where you first met this 'Slade.'"

Kim frowned. It wasn't the most solid piece of evidence that she had ever heard of, but it was the best one so far. She was tired of waiting for Slade to show up at some other place of his choosing. She was going to find him first this time, take the fight to him for a change. Kim looked down at the buckle of the blue battle suit she was wearing. She had only worn it once before, and in all that time, it still hadn't undergone the formal testing that Wade had insisted on. But Kim knew she was going to need it, because this was going to be it. She was going to bring Slade in. No more shadows in the dark, no more late night battles, no more having to explain injuries to her and Ron's parents. Slade was going down. And after that…. after that would come the hard part.

"Kim, are you sure you don't want me to contact Ron? I mean, even with the battle suit, it seems to me like you are going to need some back u…"

"NO." Kim spoke with a furious resolve that threatened to bite Wade's head off. After what happened to him last night, she couldn't bear the thought of him being anywhere near Slade, or her for that matter. "No, he needs to rest. He had a rough night last night." Kim's voice softened with a slight remorse.

"From what I hear, you didn't have a great time ei…" but Wade was cut off once again.

"Let me know if anything else comes up. Out." And with that, Kim flipped off the Kimmunicator and placed it back in her pocket. It was close to jump time.

-----------------------------------------------------

"Kim! Kim!" Ron called up to the tree house that had once been their own private sanctuary away from the world. Even as he rubbed in his neck, Ron's mind filled with concern, but not for himself. Never for himself.

Last night's incident, compounded with his injuries, had kept him from really speaking with Kim, and he could only guess the thoughts going through her mind. He needed to find her, talk to her. This thought had all but consumed him, placing his own care as nothing but a secondary concern. When Kim's mother had told him that she wasn't home, and in fact, hadn't even come downstairs for breakfast that morning, alarms had gone off in Ron's mind. He had promised Kim's mother to bring her home, safe and sound.

But try as he might, it seemed that she had vanished from the face of Middleton. Ron knew that she couldn't be on any mission, or else Wade would have called him. That left only so many other places that she could be. The mall, Club Banana, Bueno Nacho, Ron had made a list, checked it twice, checked it again and been up and down it almost twice now. Yet she was nowhere to be found. He had called their friends, assorted kids from school, and eventually, in utter desperation, even Bonnie, to see if any of them had seen her. They hadn't, not a one.

Ron's spirit was beginning to sink to new lows as he made his way across the Park for the third time this day. It was back to the top of his list.

The mall.

Summer days usually saw the mall stores packed on the weekends, mostly with kids buying new swim trunks or other related items for summer vacations. Kim usually found her way over there at least twice a week to make sure she didn't miss any good sales. Yet one more of Kim's endless skills, she knew how to get the most out of a storewide saving. Ron smiled as he remembered back to simpler times, with him trapped in Club Banana's "Young Women" section, left holding piles of items that he could well be arrested for if he were ever seen in public in, while Kim would furiously look for something on sale that satisfied her taste of the moment.

But not today. Ron searched in and out of every store that Kim ever shopped in, and even the ones that Ron would normally have to drag her into, just to make sure.

Nothing.

Ron's stomach growled at him fiercely, but his heart's weight seemed to cancel it out. However, his heart could not block out a slight whimper coming from his pants pocket. Ron looked down to see a pitiful naked mole rat tugging at his shirt, and rubbing his stomach almost painfully.

"Sorry buddy. We got work to do."

"Please." Rufus pleaded. "Sooo hungry."

Ron had to admit, the constant searching was taking a toll on him as well. Both fatigue and hunger were taking their toll on his body, and Ron was forced to surrender to the need for food and rest, both from his stomach and his little buddy.

There was no Bueno Nacho at the mall, so Ron got in line for some pizza, hoping that maybe the food might improve his mood. Or that perhaps Kim would be passing through and see him, though something in the back of his mind told him not to bet his college savings on it.

Ron's pessimism was swept aside as a crashing sound, followed by a high pitched scream, came from within the food court. Ron turned around to see two tall figures, completely clad in black and grey with metallic, clawed gloves, and black masks with orange circles centered around the facial areas, standing atop a shattered table; the couple eating there already backing away. For a minute, the two figures scanned their surroundings, before their gaze finally came around to Ron. Silently, the two agreed and moved forwards, converging on their target.

Ron let out a slight gulp as the pair moved to flank him. "I don't suppose you want me to try the latest fragrance for my girlfriend?" Ron replied.

-----------------------------------------------------

Kim took a long look at the skylight to the building. No steel doors or shields and no booby traps. This seemed way too sloppy for Slade. Kim's anxious mind was already beginning to doubt Wade's analysis. Still, she hadn't come this far to turn back now.

Kim's footsteps were as light as air. Even as she dropped down to the cold hard floor, she never made a sound, moving within the shadows. Her senses were alert, taking in every sound, and every trickle of light. The room itself was still lit with sunlight slowly filtered in through the dirt covered windows. Dead machines and empty boxes littered the otherwise empty room, completely undecorated, lest one counted the dirt. Kim hated this place. It reminded her too much of a few nights ago. She tried to stay within the shadows, hoping to remain unseen as she moved through the rest of the building.

It didn't take her long to realize that she wasn't alone.

A loud creek echoed in the next room. Kim leapt through the air, landing with flawless grace and silence. She moved into the next room, only to be greeted by a familiar voice.

"Hello again, Kim. It's been far too long."

Kim didn't respond as she tried to find the body to go along with the voice.

"You needn't bother trying to find me. In fact, I'm not even here. A simple microphone. I hope you don't think it rude of me, but I'm afraid I had something more than this rundown place set for our final little dance."

Kim could tell that Slade's voice was being broadcast through the system already set up in the building. She imagined it would have taken Slade all of ten seconds to rewire it and connect it to a transmitter of his own, from which he could be speaking from any location within a twenty mile radius.

"Hiding behind a voice box. I thought you liked to get up close and personal." Kim replied to the empty room.

"Oh I do. In fact, I'm more than willing to finish this little game of ours face to face."

"This is no game." Kim's voice dripped like acid.

"So, you're finally starting to learn." Slade's voice seemed almost pleased, and this thought made Kim nauseas. "What a pity that you still seem to think of me as your enemy."

"You're kidding, right? You're a sadistic, self-centered, obsessive, maniac."

"Well, I am far too modest. But in time, you will come to appreciate these traits in me, and in yourself." Slade's voice grew even colder (if such a thing was possible) as this last statement.

"I'm nothing like you." Kim replied fiercely.

"Not quite, but you're learning."

-----------------------------------------------------

Ron ducked a grab from one of the goons, only to turn around and catch a kick with his stomach, sending him flying into another table.

Already, mall patrons had begun scrambling for the nearest way out, leaving Ron to himself.

"Boy, the sales people here are getting mean." Ron commented to no one in particular. He looked up just in time to see a metal booted foot nearly pin him to the ground, but Ron rolled to the side, and then kicked out, tripping the assailant to the ground.

Ron rose up to see the second one leap out at him. Reacting quickly with a move he had learned in Japan, Ron reached out, actually catching the second goon in the air, and then tossing him into his rising companion.

Thinking fast, Ron grabbed two handfuls of ketchup packets off a nearby counter and then took off running. He didn't get far before he could hear the hard thuds of heavy feet chasing after him. He permitted himself to take a quick peek behind him. Sure enough, both henchmen were in close pursuit.

Armed with his ketchup packets in hand, Ron turned around quickly and hurled the condiments as though he were wielding a deadly weapon.

The first handful, struck true, landing just in front of the feet of the nearest pursuer. As Ron had hoped, its heavy feet crushed the packets, squirting red condiment everywhere. The slippery substance caused the masked figure to briefly loose its footing at such a fast pace, its feet sliding out from beneath it as it landed face first on the ground.

The one further back, however, easily leapt over the simple attack and continued its chase. Panicking, Ron ducked inside a nearby hardware store.

By the time the second henchmen had arrived, he had lost sight of his query. Pausing for a moment, he scanned his surroundings, taking a few cautious steps inside the store.

From behind, a blonde young man wielding a crowbar struck in the back of the head, knocking the henchmen to the ground. Dropping the crowbar, Ron immediately rushed over behind a nearby aisle and pushed with all his strength. Sure enough, the entire aisle, shelves, displays and all, came tumbling over, landing right on top of the stunned henchman, burying him in home gardening implements.

"Ron! Ron, are you there?"

Ron's ears immediately perked up as he heard the blissful sound of his girlfriend's voice calling to him. He quickly rushed out of the store and into the mall's ground floor.

"KP! Oh man, where are you, I need help!" Ron called out in desperation, even as he could see the first henchman with the ketchup stained feet rising.

"Over here." Kim's voice carried from down a nearby corridor, which Ron's memory told him, lead down to the rest rooms, and a fire exit. Without thinking twice, Ron turned and run down the narrow passage out, only to stop in horror at the sight.

"Oh Ronnie, you're my hero you big stud." Kim's voice poured out of the voice amplifier in Shego's hand as the super villain stood there proudly. "Looser." Shego spoke with her own voice before kicking out, sending Ron spiraling into darkness.

-----------------------------------------------------

"So, are we going to just sit here and talk all day?" Kim asked, her voice a mixture of impatience and rage.

"Not at all. In fact, you've given me all the time I needed. You're so predictable Kim. For all your impressive skills and abilities, you have but one critical weakness, one crucial flaw and he's the one thing that will keep you from ever defeating me." Slade responded with no small amount of smugness.

A slow horror dawned on Kim as her face went white with terror. "Oh god. Ron!"

Kim never said another word as she raced out of the building, praying that it wasn't too late… too late to be forgiven.


	9. My Enemy And My Friend

**Authors Note:** The author of this fic, in no way, meant to imply or guarentees either an appearance by the Teen Titans, or a happy ending for our heroes. I guess you're all just going to have to suffer through and find out for yourselves.

Silence reigned for the third day straight in the Possible household. Kim had been in her room, scarcely eating, and only sleeping after finally crying herself into slumber each night. Her parents had tried to comfort her, reassure her, but without any luck. They too had become very solemn, waiting and hoping for some news. Even the 'tweebs' seemed to have lost the will to rewire, reprogram, or blow up anything.

The Stoppable household was very much the same, though the occasional sob or weep could be heard from time to time.

There had been nothing, no news, no threats, no messages, no sign of Slade, or Ron, for days now. Every time Kim would ever look up at the time on the clock, she would do a quick tally in her mind of the total amount of time Ron had been missing, and the count would bring her to tears each time.

She had tried everything she could think of, calling in every favor ever owed to her, and then some, to try find Ron. The tracking device that Wade had implanted in Ron years ago was being blocked somehow from transmitting a signal. Global Justice, with help from the local police department, had already done a complete sweep of the entire city to no avail. The highway patrol had been alerted to search any vehicles moving out of the city, while Dr. Possible had even used his connections at work to use satellite scanning to look for any unauthorized vehicles flying out of the city. When it was all said and done, a fly couldn't have snuck out of Middleton with Ron without someone noticing.

And all for nothing.

Kim buried her pain and tears in her pillow as she continued to relive her failure in her mind. She should have been with him, should have protected him.

Slade had been right. Ron was in god-knew what kind of trouble, and it was all her fault. It was her fault because she loved him. She had been friends with him and he was being punished for it.

Slade's words echoed in her mind over and over again. How many complete strangers had she saved? People that she had never even met, some of which she might never even see again. People she had never really owed anything, but she still risked life and limb to help them and had succeeded. And now Ron, the one person who meant more to her than anything else in the world….

Kim's inner torment was interrupted by a familiar chime. For a moment, Kim's spirit's soared as she reached for the Kimmunicator. The face on the screen seemed almost as excited as she was.

"Kim, I found him!" Wade exclaimed.

"What? Where! How?" Kim's heart skipped a beat at the announcement.

"His chip. I don't know why, but I'm getting a signal from it. It's com…." The image on the Kimmunicator began to dissolve in a haze of static, soon to be replaced by a familiar masked figure.

"Kim. I have something very precious to you. If you want to see your dear Ron in any sort of functional capacity, come alone. Bring anyone at all, your brothers, Global Justice, even the rodent, and you will once again be responsible for Ronald's suffering." Slade's visage disappeared from the Kimmunicator screen, bringing Wade's face back.

"….im, Kim, can you… what just happened?" Wade finished his voiced concern as though he had never stopped speaking at all.

"It was Slade. Wade, where did you say you found Ron?" Kim asked with growl on her face.

"Well, the signal is actually coming from one of Drakken's old bases, just outside Middleton."

"Didn't GJ already sweep through there?"

"Sure did. One of the first places they checked actually. I don't know about this Kim, this is probably a trap."

"Most definitely. How soon can you get me out there?"

-----------------------------------------------------

The base in question had actually been located underneath a large hill alongside the highway. Kim believed she could recall foiling a plan of Drakken's to hold the globe hostage by releasing an army of genetically modified rabbits that would breed at an abnormally high rate and consume entire crops. It wasn't one of his better ideas. The plan had obviously backfired, as many of Drakken's plans had, as the rabbits had turned out to be sterile.

Kim recalled the entrance to this particular hideout located underneath a fake oak tree with a thin branch expanding out five feet from the ground. The branch in question was nothing more than a lever that, once pulled, would cause an entrance way to slide away and reveal itself in the side of the tree.

Kim found herself surprisingly afraid when the entranceway had not been booby trapped. Instead, the hatch contained the same ladder leaning down into the dark. Kim tapped down on the buckle of her battle suit for reassurance, and then, uttering a silent prayer, dropped straight down. She already knew that there was no need for stealth, she was expected.

Sure enough, her entrance brought lights on throughout the entire room. It looked as though much of Drakken's old equipment had been cleared away, affording her plenty of room in case of a fight, she noted mentally.

"I hope we are both far past the juvenile quips and taunts." Slade's voice carried throughout the room. Kim's senses tracked it to atop a series of large metallic pipes that went across the entire top of the room. He stood there perfectly motionless, poised with the composure of a statue.

"You took something that belongs to me." Kim managed to get out through gritted teeth.

"Actually, that credit belongs to my new disciple." Slade gestured to a shadowed corner where a pair of green glowing fists dimly illuminated a familiar form.

Shego leapt out directly in front of Kim, posed for battle. "So princess, any last words?"

Kim almost cracked a smirk, though it failed to penetrate her stone resolve. It was so out of character for Shego to forgo her usual pre-battle taunts, which usually went back and forth between the two for at least another thirty seconds. _"Slade must have her spooked good."_ Kim reached down to her buckle and pressed her fingers hard into it, causing the blue patterns all across her battle suit to glow to life. "Yeah, you're in my way."

Kim screamed with three days worth of pent up rage and guilt as she ran straight toward Shego, who had in turn, charged her as well. The two leapt into the air at each other, trading blows back and forth even as gravity brought them back to the ground. Kim kicked out at Shego, who flipped out of the way, throwing down a barrage of green energy blasts at Kim as she sailed through the air.

Kim somersaulted out of their path before aiming her climbing cable stored around her suits wrists directly at Shego's feet. Kim's aim was dead on, and Shego, unable to properly balance herself with her feet tied together, came landing to the ground with a harsh thud.

Kim wasn't done yet. Even as she activated the impulse within the suit to retract the cable, Kim began to pull at it with all the strength she could muster. Spinning herself around with her feet while her hands retained a firm grip on the cord, Kim spun Shego around and around and around in a fury of rage.

Shego could tell this wasn't going to be pretty. Her instincts brought her to bear as she aimed a blast at Kim's chest. Though the suit kept Kim from suffering any second or third degree burns, the blast was enough to knock her off her feet and cause her to loose her grip. Shego was sent flying through the air, before hitting the side of the wall.

"Princess, that's going to cost you." Shego spit out even as she rubbed her head slightly for any unsightly bumps.

Both fighters immediately leapt to their feet, running head long at each other once again. The two fought as though they were in a carefully choreographed dance number that they had rehearsed over years and years of deadly combat with one another. The two struck out from physical memory, each one already knowing how to react to the others attacks and defenses. But something in Kim struck out harder, the only thing that will give a person more strength than fighting for their own survival… fighting for the survival of a loved one.

Kim blocked a strike from Shego's left arm, then immediately forced the arm down, bending and twisting it in such a manner that left Shego with no way out. For a split second, she stepped back, and in that opportunity, as Shego rose up to regain her composure, Kim kicked out hard and straight into her gut, knocking the wind from Shego's lungs. Shego fired sparse energy bolts in Kim's direction, trying to force her opponent back, but Kim easily leapt over them. She came down and ran straight at Shego, delivering a teeth smashing haymaker than knocked Shego straight to the ground.

Kim wasn't done yet. Even as Shego tried to bring herself to her feet once more, Kim leapt on top of her, tackling her to the ground. With her legs, she pinned Shego's arms to the ground and then punched, and punched again, and again, and again. Kim continued to pummel her helpless opponent until blood began rushing out of Shego's nose and mouth. But there was something inside Kim that didn't care. A cold rage awakened within her, something she had never really even been aware of.

For a moment, Kim prepared for a renewed salvo, only to be stopped by the horror of her own actions. What was she doing? She looked down to see a pitiful look for mercy coming from Shego's horribly bruised face, and something else. Something that she had never seen before from her super powered foe: fear. She had beaten Shego before but this…

"Do it." Slade spoke from overhead.

"What?" Kim asked in shock.

"What?" Shego asked weakly.

"Do it. Finish her." Slade was talking to Kim, not Shego.

"B-but, I thought she was your…"

"She is your enemy Kim; that is all that matters. Time and time again you have fought her, you have won against her, but you have never truly beaten her. You now have the chance to finish her off once and for all. Take it. Kill her." Slade's voice reached a new depth of cruelty in its tone. Both Kim and Shego were horrified at what they were hearing.

"No." Kim spoke, almost in a whisper, even as she looked down at the battered form of her enemy. "I won't become her."

"Then you have no chance against my newest lackey. Allow me to introduce you." At this, Slade pressed down on a remote control in his hand. In response, a pair of trap doors in the floor opened up, allowing rise to a large platform. Strapped into the platform was blonde figure that Kim could scarcely recognize.

"Ron." Kim whispered in terror. Even as she spoke, the metal restraints holding him in place unlocked themselves. The platform itself brought itself to an upright angle, yet he did not move.

"Weapon: Engage" On Slade's command, Ron's eyes opened, a mindless gaze shot out from them at nothing. He did not see Kim, though she was right in front of him.

Kim rushed straight up to him, embracing him tightly, until she realized that he was not moving. In fact, he was totally unaware as to her presence. "Ron, Ron it's me." Kim looked deeply into his eyes, but she saw nothing. Only irises, the deep brown color that she had come to love, but nowhere in them did she see any sign of Ron Stoppable.

"Attack!" Slade ordered.

In that instant, Ron lashed out, his fist striking hard across Kim's face, knocking her back hard to the ground. Kim struggled to throw off the pain, looking up just in time to see Ron leap up into the air, then bring his right foot out to land straight on top of her.

Kim's self-preserving instincts moved her out of the way of the attack. Even as Ron landed beside her, she leapt to her feet, and then reacted just in time to dodge another punch, before leaping away from a roundhouse kick.

"Impressive, don't you think?" Slade commented as he watched the fight with obvious amusement. "You know, I must admit I was very impressed. He resisted far longer than I would have imagined possible. Still, I think I was able to make something out of the young man. The latest in nanotechnology to build up his muscles, and a combination of neural reprogramming and hypnosis to turn him into the perfect living weapon; the one weapon the great Kim Possible could never defeat."

Kim's arms shot up to deflect a high kick, then to her side to block an attack to her heart. Kim could tell that Slade was right, Ron was bigger, his muscles much more powerful than they had ever been naturally before. And his moves were deadly. He was fighting to kill, yet she could only bring herself to defend.

"You'll be pleased to know however than I left you an opening." Slade sneered even as Ron's kick knocked Kim back to the ground. "I've timed his new reflexes. His attacks are exactly a fraction of a second slower than yours."

Kim leapt over a swipe from Ron, and then back flipped from him to give herself room to think. Even as she did, Slade's words echoed like those of a judge handing down a death sentence.

"You can beat him and all you have to do… is stop holding back."


	10. The Devil's Appeal

Blood dripped from Kim Possible's nose. Even as she smarted, she dodged another fist, then flipped over her assailant, swiping out and knocking him off his feet even as she landed behind him. Yet he did not flinch. He leapt immediately back to his feet, and then kicked out.

Kim was fighting more than just some enemy. She was fighting a torrent of emotions within her. Fear, not for herself, but for the closest person to her in the entire world. She knew what Slade had meant. What he wanted. Ron was so mindless in his current state that he seemed immune to pain. In order to stop him, she would have to use all her strength. She would have to hurt him… but she just couldn't.

"Frustrating, isn't it." Slade mused as he watched, his voice carrying itself through the entire room like that of a dark god. "Fighting against an opponent who looks just like someone you care about. But make no mistake; your lover is lost to you. I merely have control of his body, and I will use him however I see fit, unless you can stop him."

Kim ducked a roundhouse, then leapt lightly over a follow up swipe. Ron then leapt forward with flying spin kick, but Kim back flipped away from the attack. She pushed Slade's words out of her mind. She didn't believe him for a second. Ron was in there somewhere. She just needed an opening to reach him.

"What do you suppose I should do with him after he's through with you? Perhaps he can retrieve another copy of the data code that you were so anxious to retrieve the other night. Of course, he might be killed in the attempt, but sacrifices must be made."

Kim blocked one kick, then another, then another. However, as she tried to leap past him, Ron reached out and grabbed her arm. With new strength that he had never possessed before in his life, Ron twisted Kim's arm into an Aikido grip, his arms strong as steel, meant to snare her hand behind her back with one arm, while he pulled her head back at a painful angle.

"Or perhaps I'll have him finish your family. If you submit now, I'll even let you watch." Slade sneered at the sight.

"Ron…." Kim struggled for air, her neck feeling like it was being torn right off. "Ron i-it's me. P-please… Ron." Tears mixed with blood over Kim's face. She had one free hand, and she saw an opening with which to use it, but against Ron….

"You know you can beat him. " Slade's voice carried a tone of frustration in it as it rose in volume. "Stop holding back and do it!"

Kim uttered a silent wish for forgiveness, before striking. Tensing her hand in much the same way she had seen Ron do in the forest, she struck out behind her, threatening to tear her arm off in the process, at Ron's throat.

Blood spurted from Ron's mouth as Kim hit true. Even the mindless trance that had held him and made him oblivious to the world around him could not ignore such an attack. Ron's grip on Kim immediately vanished, leaving Kim to try and regain feeling within her other arm. Ron coughed and gasped for air, and tears poured from his eyes as they turned towards Kim, allowing her to see something familiar in them that she had not seen for what seemed like an eternity.

"Kim?" Ron asked weakly, his mindless gaze melting away to reveal a mixture of terror and confusion, as though waking up from a terrible nightmare.

But the nightmare was not over. Even as Kim rushed over to him, Ron's arm moved of its own accord, striking Kim hard across the face. Kim looked at Ron to see her own confusion reflected through his features.

Against his own will, Ron continued the attack, forcing Kim to return to her defensive stance, while Slade watched with renewed interest.

"Well now, how interesting." Slade's amusement revealed itself too clearly in his voice. This was going far better than he had hoped.

Ron was a prisoner in his own body, fighting in the thrall of forces he neither understood nor controlled. He moved in the grip of instincts and reflexes that ignored his own desires and commands, powerless to do anything but watch as he tried to kill the woman of his life.

Kim could see the helpless look in Ron's eyes as they fought. "Ron, you have to fight…" she was cut off as his foot kicked her square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

"I think that's kinda the problem KP." Ron responded, even as he leapt out to tackle Kim to the ground. The two rolled around for a second, before Kim finally brought herself on top of Ron, attempting to pin him to the ground.

"That's not what I meant. Fight it, Ron. You're stronger than this." Even as Kim spoke, she could feel herself loosing her hold over him. She had the leverage, but nowhere near the upper body strength that he now had.

"I-I can't." Ron pulled against his own muscles, but they would not obey. On its own, Ron's head knocked forward, head butting Kim straight in the face, drawing yet more blood from her nose. "You have to stop me."

"No." Kim spoke with a mix of terror and determination, even as she backed away from Ron who leapt to his feet. "I won't do it. Don't you dare ask me that." Tears welled up in her eyes at the very thought. She was Kim Possible. She could do anything. She was not going to give up now. She was not going to fail, especially not today, especially not him.

"Kim!" Ron spoke, even as he attempted to drop kick her. Kim easily sidestepped the attack, only to leap at Ron's backside as he landed to the ground, tackling him. It was her turn to use the Aikido discipline, twisting his arms in such a manner as to use his own strength against him, locking his joints in place.

"You listen to me, Ron Stoppable, don't you dare give up on me. Do you hear me? You are going to fight this, and you are going to win." Kim's words were not meant to console or comfort. Ron recognized that tone all to well. That was an order, but one Ron's body seemed determined to ignore. Even as she held him in her grip, his muscles tensed against it. It felt like his arm would sooner rip itself off then heed his own cries to stop.

Ron cried out in pain as his body, ignoring the damage being done to itself, resisted Kim's grip. Kim could only watch in horror as Ron's arm seemed seconds away from tearing itself from its own socket. She tried to force herself to hold on, knowing full well what it meant to let go.

Then came the crack.

Kim wasn't sure what bone it had been, but she released in horror of herself as soon as she heard it. In that instant, Ron shot around with his other arm, nearly knocking Kim's jaw off and sending her stumbling back to the ground.

"KIM!" Ron shouted in warning as he leapt to his feet, charging her with a look of terror on his face. In a split second, a decision was made, though Kim was never conscious of making it. Kim rolled out from underneath Ron's foot as it threatened to crush her head beneath it. Then, snapping to her feet, she came about and hit Ron hard in the face with the mother of all haymakers.

The effect was devastating.

Blood splashed out from Ron's face as he fell to the floor with the look of a prize fighter that had just gotten his face rearranged in the worst, most crushing defeat of his career. Kim gasped, tears pouring from her eyes as she rushed to Ron's side. She tried to wake him, tugging at his frame, while lightly slapping him in the face. Slade's words were a distant whisper as her mind tried to fathom what had just happened to her.

"Excellent. You're finally ready to begin." Slade interrupted Kim's inner turmoil, bringing her dark gaze up to his face.

"What do you think you're talking about?" Kim practically spit the words from her mouth.

"You're ready to begin training, as my apprentice."

Kim's horror and rage were immediately replaced with shock and disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"Oh I'm very serious. I'm a man with a destiny Kim Possible; to take the world, and when I'm done, to hand it over to my apprentice, who will keep it in my place. Time and time again, I've suffered… disappointments in my search. And then, I found you. The great Kim Possible, the so called 'hero who can do anything.' The perfect canidate."

"Take Shego. I'm not interested." Kim's voice was dark and cold.

"Shego is a little… rough, around the edges. With Shego at my side, I might take the world, but with you at my side, I would keep it."

"Go to hell." Kim no longer spoke with any emotion, almost mimicking the metallic feel of Slade's.

"And what else is left for you? Do you honestly believe you could return to your life as a hero knowing what that fate holds for you? You've defeated your worst enemy; you've defeated your best friend. That life holds nothing for you anymore and you already know you were never meant for the life of an ordinary girl. You were meant for far greater things. You were meant for a life of significance, yet you squander it helping meaningless peons who can't even help themselves."

Kim didn't respond. She just glared at Slade.

"Mindless masses, cheering your name, all the while existing for the sole purpose of being helpless before people like us, who were destined to rise above them. Come with me Kim Possible and I will teach you to soar."

At first, there was utter silence. No movement or motion disturbed the tranquility of the hideout. Then, Kim finally spoke in a cruel, quiet tone that threatened to shake the world with an effect far greater than any thunderous roar.

"I'm going to destroy you."

"By all means." Slade sneered as Kim spoke. However, before he could say or do anything else, the world around them seemed to shatter. Both Kim and Slade were surprised to see the entire roof crumble all around them, metal ceiling, pipes, and even dirt and roots from the earth above fell down, littering the room as a large mechanical monstrosity dropped down into the room.

The machine in question was at least twenty feet tall. Upon closer inspection, Kim realized it was a kind of battle suit, though far more powerful and bulkier than her own. Kim could not restrain her surprise as she caught a glimpse of the pilot through the transparent pilot cockpit.

"Slade!" Drakken shouted through speakers located at the top of the robot. "You and I have unfinished business!"


	11. Reckonings

Everything that had happened until this point had been of Slade's careful orchestration. The fights, the lectures designed to make her doubt her entire life's accomplishments, the moment where he would force her to destroy her anchor, the one man who would keep Slade from ever turning her away from herself. All of it, an intricate tapestry culminating in the instant when he would tear Kim Possible away from all that she held dear, and remake her over in his image.

All of it, except this.

"You like?" Drakken sneered as he spoke from within the safety of his newest mechanical creation. "After Shego failed to recover the power source I needed for it, I actually had to ask Dementor for a favor." As if to punctuate his frustration, Drakken's machine roared with power, a hatch in its top opening up to reveal a small laser cannon. Quickly locating its mark, it fired a fierce red beam at Slade, forcing the masked villain to dodge out of the way as it carved a fiery wake in its path. "But it is so going to be worth it!" Drakken exclaimed in delight.

Kim Possible looked on in shock at the events unfolding before her. Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore surprises…

Slade leapt out of the path of the energy beam as it continued to hold its track. Flipping through the air, he landed away from its aim just long enough to hurl a small, smooth discus through the air, directly at Drakken's transparent cockpit. The discus hit where Drakken's forehead would have been, exploding fiercely. Yet even Slade's mask could not conceal the surprise on his face as Drakken remain unharmed within his battle bot, the cockpit completely unfazed, save for some soot that had gathered following the explosion.

"Ha! Reinforced, transparent armor shielding; the latest from Hench Co. industries. Could stop a tank shell." Drakken explained with no small degree of smugness. Drakken reached down within his pilot seat to activate another control at his disposal. Sure enough, duel holsters bearing Light Anti-vehicular Weapon rockets revealed themselves from within the robot's shoulders. "Of course, these are a personal touch."

Even as Slade turned to run away from a rocket aimed straight for him, Kim eyed him with a murderous fury. She was going to kill him, and this was her chance.

Kim moved to fire her cable at Slade's legs just as she had earlier against Shego, tying him down long enough for Drakken to score a single shot. As it was, he was actually dodging Drakken's missile attack. Rockets were detonating across the room, throwing fire, smoke, and rubble into the air, but Slade was managing to stay one step ahead of it all. A cruel smile danced across her face as she imagined the look on Slade's face when his legs fell out from underneath him just as one Drakken's missiles….

Kim's insidious fantasy was interrupted as a powerful hand grabbed her leg. She looked down, and was instantly horrified, to see the battered face of her best friend as he grabbed at her, presumably for aide.

"Kim… help…" But even as Ron's spoke, his arms moved to push the balance out of Kim's leg, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Despite everything that Ron had been through, his body still moved with a horrific purpose and unnatural determination. Even as Kim felt her head hit the concrete ground beneath her, she looked up to see Ron's hands outstretch themselves and reach for her throat.

With all the strength that she had in her body, Kim grabbed his wrists to stop him, but this time, he had the leverage, as well as the strength Slade had given his muscles.

"Ron…" Kim gasped as she struggled to keep her own breath. Her muscles were already sore, the recent beatings that they had taken over the past couple of days still just barely concealed beneath the surface were now adding to their distress.

"Kim…" Ron pulled and pulled at himself as though he were trying to pull some random goon off of her. It was a sick sensation, as he struggled to regain control over his own body.

"Ron… I know you can do this. I know you won't hurt me." Kim spoke with absolute confidence as a calm suddenly came over her. Her grip on his arms deliberately weakened, allowing them to move forward towards her own neck.

"Kim, no!" Ron shouted in terror as his hands reached around her throat, constricting the air within them. Sweat dripped down from every pore on his face as he pulled against himself. Yet he could still feel his grip tightening around her throat.

"I love you Ron, and I won't hurt you anymore. Whatever else happens, I won't hurt you ever again." Kim's voice was soft and chocked. Coughs and gasps began to escape her mouth as Ron's grip remained firm. Her airways were constricted, yet she made no moves to resist.

"KP! Don't you let me do this! Do you hear me?" Panic set in. Ron closed his eyes tightly as he pulled back at himself with all that he had left to bear.

-----------------------------------------------------

An explosion sent Slade flying through the air, landing face first on the ground at an unnatural angle. Where on earth had Drakken gotten such a weapon anyway? _"Shego."_ That traitor. She had known about it, and never said a word. Drakken must have found a way to get it out of the lair before he could have found it, and she had just kept quiet the whole time.

Slade looked up from the ground to see Drakken's enormous mechanical armor standing right in front of him. "If you have any last words, find someone who cares!" Drakken spoke with triumph as his laser weapon fired again, coming within an inch of Slade's hide. Though the masked villain was able to leap up off the ground and out of the beam's path, he had not done so quickly enough to keep the beam from burning a mark in Slade's armor, as well as leaving a second degree burn mark beneath it. Slade looked up at Drakken with hate in his eye before rising up to his feet to face down this latest interference in his plans.

As another of Drakken's missiles readied itself, Slade produced another discus. This time, his target was the missile launcher itself. The discus hit its mark directly on target, exploding with deadly results. The secondary explosions produced by the remaining missile tubes created a symphony of destruction that tore away at the robot's entire upper right torso, exposing a series of damaged circuits, as well as producing a small hole in the upper section of the cockpits armor. The robot flailed wildly as Drakken struggled to bring the robot back under control, cursing all the while at the inferior quality of Hench Co. products these days. So distracted was Drakken with this task that he looked up too late to see Slade leap forward directly at the robot, grasping firmly onto the robots frame with one arm. With his spare arm, he produced a grenade which he quickly tossed into the cockpit, before leaping away, rolling to the ground. Drakken was only just able to take in the sight of the grenade as it landed squarely in between his legs before hitting the emergency release on the cockpit canopy, scrambling for his life out of the machine.

Unfortunately, Drakken's legs didn't carry him quite as far as he would have liked. The explosion within the cockpit tore his mechanical goliath to fragments while the force of it uplifted Drakken and sent him flying through the air to land hard on the ground.

With his face in the dirt and his body sore all over, it took Drakken a second to realize his predicament. He hurriedly forced himself to look up, only to see a familiar armored figure standing over him. Slade's arm shot out, grabbing Drakken by the throat, and lifting him up in the air, his feet dangling a few precious inches from the ground beneath him.

"So…wanna team up?" Drakken gasped as he dangled helplessly within Slade's grasp. However, before Slade could respond to the empty offer, another blast of energy flew through the air, striking Slade squarely in the backside, sending both him and Drakken tumbling to the ground. Slade quickly turned, only to see the sneering expression of the Judas in his midst.

"Hey boss," Shego stood, poised for battle, her wrists glowing with savage green energy, "I quit."

"But Shego, after everything that we've been through…" Drakken began to protest from the floor.

"Not you, Dr. D!" Even as Shego spoke, Slade rose from the ground, his fists clenching tightly.

"Last time, you begged for your life." Slade spoke with silent rage.

"This time, I've got back-up." Slade didn't have time to question Shego's statement as a furious red-head sporting a blue and white battle suit attacked from behind, drop kicking Slade's shoulder, sending him falling back to the ground, even as she moved with her own momentum, leaping off of Slade's falling body and into the air to land right beside Shego.

"Ready?" Kim asked.

"Just remember something princess, when this is all over…"

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Kim allowed herself a split second to look over to the side where Ron had finally passed out after forcing his own body under control. She had remembered the look of overwhelming fatigue that had overtaken him, and the promise that she had made him as she had knelt beside his slumbering form.

When he woke up, he'd be safe again.

With that, resolve poured strength through Kim's aching muscles as she returned her glance to Slade. There was no taunting this time. There was nothing left to say.

Shego leapt forward with a flying spin kick that Slade ducked. Landing behind him, Shego came back with a roundhouse that Slade deflected with his right hand, even as Kim attacked his side with a kick of her own to Slade's midsection. Slade was sent off balance and Shego uppercut with her glowing fists, sending Slade stumbling back, desperate to regain his balance.

As Slade regained his stance, he was able to see Kim leap through the air to tackle him to the ground. Slade immediately went limp, moving in flow with the momentum of Kim's attack, then bringing himself up to throw her off him. Kim landed squarely on her feet, even as Slade brought himself back up to his. Just as he managed to do so, Shego moved forward with a combination of glowing emerald jabs that threatened to sear the flesh off of Slade's body at the slightest touch. Slade did his best to dodge the combo, just as a fierce kick from behind, by Kim, knocked him forward, sending him straight into the path of a brutal burning blow to the face from Shego.

Slade cried out in pain, his hands flying up over his mask, desperate to tend to the pain somehow. Even as he did, Kim's powerful legs wrapped themselves around his neck as she leapt over him. Bringing her upper body to the ground, Kim used the power within her legs in conjunction with her momentum to lift Slade up off the ground and send him hurtling through the air to the other side of the room.

Even as Slade managed to twist his form in mid-hurl, landing perfectly on the ground beneath him, he looked up to see his two opponents running together in perfect synchronization at him. The two fought so naturally together, each able to perfectly anticipate and fill in the holes or gaps in the other's attacks.

Slade hurtled another exploding discus through the air, this one landing before Kim Possible, sending her flying backwards to the ground, though the suit saved her from any serious damage.

Shego took no apparent concern for the well being of her very temporary partner. Instead, she leapt up into the air, taking advantage of the opening Slade had left in his stance, to hurl his ranged explosive, to land a drop kick to Slade's left shoulder. Bone of something, either the shoulder or arm, cracked audibly, echoing throughout the largely hollow room as Shego's attack knocked Slade all the way back into the wall. Trapped in a corner, Slade struck out, but Shego ducked the attack and returned with a kick to Slade's burn wound across his midsection. She then followed through with another uppercut, and a palm strike across his mask's chin, sending him right back against the wall with no apparent opening.

"Any more dark advice from the former badass on the block?" Shego jeered at the sight of her former master backed in between a rock and a hard place.

"Actually, yes." Quickly reaching within his belt, Slade produced a simple metallic stick with a red button at its tip. As he pushed down on it, Shego's entire body filled with pain. Her skin began to glow with a mixture of red and yellow as her screams and cries filled the entire room. "A word of warning my former disciple: when breaking in a new pet, always keep it on a firm leash. In your case, the 'leash' is composed of microscopic machines coursing through your body, far less pleasant than the ones I placed in Ron Stoppable."

Slade's fist crashed against Shego's jaw, drawing blood that splattered across the floor, a little of it even splashing on Slade's mask. Kim looked on in horror at the sight.

"You swore to serve me until such time as I released you, and that's a promise you are going to keep, whether you like it or not." Slade kicked out at Shego's bent over form, hitting her stomach hard, drawing more blood from her mouth. Yet any pain from the blow paled in comparison to the pain tearing apart her body from within. Shego spoke through gritted teeth as her entire body felt like it was on fire from the inside out.

"I...I'm sorry." Shego spoke in a whisper.

'What?" Slade's foot kicked across her face, laying her out on the ground.

"I'm sorry." Shego cried out in agony.

"That's better." Slade held up the control stick within his hand as if in display… only to drop it down to the ground, quickly and firmly crushing it beneath his boot.

Kim gasped, looking onward powerlessly as Slade turned to her.

"One down, one to go."


	12. Devil's Due

The two stood opposite each other for what seemed like an eternity, their gazes meeting one another with equal resolve. Their dueling stares never broke, even as Slade reset his broken arm with one swift movement, prompting a loud crunching sound. This was it. Win or loose, this would be their final battle.

"So, after all this, here we are. Just the two of us, as it was meant to be. No help, no sidekicks, no more tricks or surprises. You're all alone Kim, just as you were always meant to be."

"Yeah, you're in real trouble alright." Kim spoke with utter conviction in her voice. As she stood there, in that moment in time, she finally understood what it had been about Slade that made him so scary, so fearsome, over all the other madmen and deranged crackpots that she had met in her life.

Nothing.

Whatever she had seen in him that made him so scary, that had forced her fears to the surface, was within her own mind, and nowhere else. He was a villain, just like any other. But she was Kim Possible, and there was only one thing left for her to do, just like with any other villain.

"I'm going to beat you." Kim reached quickly into her suits belt to retrieve a small number of pellets, which she quickly hurled at Slade's feet. As they landed, they lightly exploded, releasing a cloud of smoke that completely consumed Slade's entire figure.

Slade took a moment to try and scan through the smoke only to see Kim leap out at him with a kick straight to the face. Slade was knocked back, only to recover and launch a counter attack with his right palm. His blow landed hard on Kim's cheek, and Slade pressed his attack with a sweep that knocked her off her feet.

Slade threatened to bring his fist down right on top of Kim's ribs, but Kim rolled away, causing Slade's fist to impact and dent the concrete floor beneath. Slade looked over to Kim's form just as she kicked out again at his face.

Slade was taken aback momentarily, but recovered almost immediately. As Kim leapt to her feet, Slade leapt over her, grabbing her from behind in a steel like grip with his arms around her in a bear hug. Kim could feel his inhuman grip tightening around her, his breath sending shivers down her spine as it blew harshly over her neck.

"I should have known you were too blind to see the truth, even when it was right in front of you the whole time." Slade berated directly into her ear.

"Yeah, I'm kinda rebellious like that." Kim brought her feet together, and with all her flexibility, kicked them both up together at an almost impossible angle right into Slade's face. Slade's grip loosened as Kim fell to her feet. "It's a teen thing. But then you should know all about that, right? You know everything else about me."

Slade and Kim traded blows. Attack. Block. Counter attack. Deflect. Back and forth, the two moved in a stalemate. "You show up out of nowhere, read my website, talk to my least favorite villain in the world, and you think you know everything there is to know about me right?"

Kim took an opening in Slade's defense to land a blow right to his mask again. "You follow me around, try to pick apart at my life like some kind of sick and twisted game."

Kim followed through with a swipe that picked Slade clean off of his feet.

"You do everything you can to pick and poke at me, trying to tear away at my layers till you get to what's lying underneath. Well you want to know what's underneath the teen, and the super hero, and the cheer leader, and the girlfriend?" Slade leapt back to his feet only to be on the receiving end of another round house.

"Me."

Slade seemed to be reeling back from the pain. It was obvious that even he was not completely immune to the battering he was taking.

"Of course sometimes, even I forget that. That's why I have the most wonderful guy in the whole world to remind me. He's always there for me, keeping the hero, and cheer leader and everyone else from getting caught up in everything else. And you knew that. That's why you tried to separate us, why you tried to get me to do your dirty work and hurt him for you. Well keep dreaming, you sick…"

Kim punched out again, but this time, her fist was caught squarely in Slade's palm.

"How disappointing." Slade snapped Kim's fist back, causing more bone to crack. Kim was taken aback by the sharp pain in her wrist, and didn't have time to react as Slade's fist crashed right into her stomach, uplifting her an inch off the ground before dropping her back down, leaving her hunched over, gasping for air.

"I offered you the world, Kim Possible; a greatness that few in their lives can ever even dream of achieving, and you would rather remain a cheerleader?" Slade grabbed Kim by her hair, forcing her face down into the ground, his words burning into her ears.

"So not the drama." Kim responded weakly as he raised her face up momentarily. At this, Slade roared in anger. His grip on her scalp still firm, Slade lifted her into the air, only to hurl her straight into the side of the lair wall. Kim's body landed with a painful thud that echoed throughout the entire chamber.

"What a waste." Slade commented to himself. However, his victory was shattered by an inhuman cry that tore through the room.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Ron Stoppable flew through the air with power and fury unlike any ever seen in his life, his right leg crashing into the side of Slade's head, knocking him to the ground.

Slade had had all the surprises that he could stand for one day, which made the sight of his former, living weapon, standing in front of him with murderous intent, more than he was willing to put up with. "You ungrateful little whelp." Slade's voice dripped bloody murder as he rose to face this last little nuisance. "I made you what you are."

"That's funny, 'cause I'm going to take you apart."

-----------------------------------------------------

Drakken looked on at the theatre of events unfolding before him with awe. Now the buffoon was fighting? This was definitely the eleventh hour. Kim was down for the count, and Shego was being torn apart from within on the other side of the room.

Drakken took in his situation, assessing his assets, which were none. His robot was completely trashed. Spare sparks and billows of smoke continued to leap up from its damaged frame. Drakken thought for a moment, examining the robots remains. The power core he had gotten from Dementor might still be intact, but there was nothing left for it to power.

It was obvious that Slade had cleared out most of Drakken's other weapons and devices. He remembered he had a spare weapons closet hidden within his lair that even Shego didn't know about. It was possible that Slade might have missed it as well, but there was nothing in there any more devastating or powerful than the armored behemoth that Slade had already reduced to scrape metal. Nothing that he wouldn't easily be able to disarm or disable without consequence.

Dismissing his weapons, Drakken attempted to concentrate on Shego's predicament. It seemed obvious that their best chance for victory lay in bringing her back into the fight, but how?

Suddenly an idea came to him. Hoping that it wasn't already too late, and praying that Slade had been too absorbed in his obsession with Kim to find the closet, Drakken tore off into the depths of his layer.

"_Just hope that buffoon can hold his own."_

-----------------------------------------------------

Ron circled Slade wearily until finally coming between him and Kim's laying form. Never once taking his gaze from Slade's unmoving figure, Ron knelt down to check on Kim. Kim gave only a slight moan in response to Ron's touch. That was enough.

"How touching, but do you honestly believe you could really stop me from hurting her if I wanted, little man?"

"Last time I checked, those are my bike's tire treads you're wearing."

Slade dropped his stance and came forward, running at Ron with a fast right. Ron dodged the attack then returned with an uppercut, but Slade was too fast and Ron's attack went wide, giving Slade an opening to deal a solid blow into Ron's side. As Ron doubled over in pain, Slade grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him up to meet his gaze, face to face.

"When I found you, you were worthless. A pathetic specimen. I made you into something formidable, and I know my own handiwork. I know all your limitations better than you do."

Ron's hand tensed forward again, adopting the same strength and pose that he had back in the woods. "_A dagger_" he reminded himself. This time his hand shot out squarely at Slade's throat, causing the villain to spit blood through his mask as he dropped Ron to his feet.

"There's something new for you." Ron's fist connected squarely with Slade's jaw, even as he attempted to keep his broken arm unexposed. Ron allowed himself to open his mind again to the thoughts that Slade had placed in him. Instincts and reflexes not his own. They were Slade's; Ron was just going to give them back.

Ron leapt backwards, bringing his feet up and into Slade's face as he did. As he landed, Ron brought his broken arm up, resetting it in one loud, painful movement as he did. Testing his arm's strength, he delivered another blow to Slade's masked face, drawing more blood in the process.

"I can still hear you, Slade. All those dark whispers, those inner voices you put inside my head, telling me to fight, to kill. I can still hear them. I can still hear you. So now you're going to hear me. First, I'm going to hurt you." Ron spun around with a savage roundhouse. Slade stumbled back and Ron leapt forward with a dropkick of his own, knocking Slade to the ground.

"This could go on for some time by the way." Ron added. "Then, one way or another, whether or I have to enforce it or not, you are never going to go near Kim ever again because if you do, I'll hurt you again." Tears streamed out of Ron's eyes as rage dripped from his voice. Slade rose and countered with a punch to Ron's face but the young man merely caught the attack between his two hands, snapping Slade's wrist downward, eliciting another loud crack.

"You can't give back what you've taken from me, but so help me, if you ever try to do to Kim what you've done to me…" Ron left this threat unfinished as he delivered one final crushing kick that sent Slade flying.

The masked madman landed hard on the ground, and did not rise. For a moment, there was nothing. Stillness, pure silence filled the room, save for Shego's restrained cries of agony off to the side.

Ron took no notice of this. Instead, slowly, cautiously, he walked over to Slade's still form, lightly taping the villain's side with his own foot, expecting movement of some kind. Yet Slade lay completely unmoving. For a moment, a horrific thought entered his mind.

But Ron was spared the guilt of murder as Slade snapped to, leaping up and slamming his fist hard across Ron's face. The young man was caught completely off guard, and could do nothing to stave off the tidal wave of pain that over took him as he was sent back, crumbling to the floor.

It was unreal. Slade was inhuman. In spite of it all, how could he continue to fight? His will was unnatural. Ron could speculate at the kind of cruelty needed to keep someone going after all this.

"Ronald, perhaps I misjudged you. It seems you have more of a backbone that I gave you credit for. I think I'll use it to strangle your girlfriend with." But as Slade reached out for Ron's bruised and helpless form, an irritatingly familiar voice shouted from across the room.

"Hey Slade," Drakken stood across the room, holding a large device in hand, with various cords running from its side into the body of the mechanical goliath Drakken had broken in with earlier. "Guess who found their spare EMP generator just gathering dust?"

Drakken didn't wait for a response as he activated the controls. The machine hummed loudly, vibrating in increasing intensity and volume, the charge within building and building until discharge.

Though the loud shriek from the device suggested a horrific explosion of some kind was about to occur, the effect was rather anticlimactic at first. The lights throughout the lair fell into darkness, leaving the entire room to be illuminated only by the sunlight that leaked in through Drakken's earlier incursion.

"Guess you're in trouble now." Ron spoke weakly as he unsteadily rose to his feet.

"A battered buffoon and a worthless insect are hardly a grave concern of mine." Slade spoke, unconcerned with this latest development. "And I don't need any toys to deal with you."

"Wasn't talking about me, ugly." As Ron spoke, his words were punctuated by a sight that Ron never expected to be happy to see in his entire life. A familiar emerald energy burned into Slade's side, sending him stumbling over.

Standing up tall and proud was a disturbingly pleasant sight.

"What do you know? Guess the doctor knew what he was doing after all." Even as Shego spoke, Slade struggled to stand up, but failed horribly. For all his strength, his will, even his body had its limits. Yet he still refused to submit. Rolling onto his hands, he slowly moved to crawl away, desperate to escape Shego, until a familiar red head in a blue and white jump suit moved to block his pitiful escape.

"Going my way?" Kim asked as she kicked out, sending Slade reeling over, back to the floor.

Slade was out of options. Nothing left, his body was spent, save for one last simple trick. Reaching quickly into his belt, Slade produced an object unmistakably recognized by all present.

"A grenade, get clear!" Kim spoke in a general warning, even as she moved to clear Ron away, pushing him to safety, even as Shego moved of her own power out of range.

But the grenade did not release the explosion expected. Even as it went off in Slade's hand, an enormous billow of smoke rose out, spreading at alarming speed through the room. Fortunately, the draft created by the enormous hole in the ceiling acted quickly to vent the smoke, yet even as it cleared, everyone looked on to see no Slade.

"Damn it!" Shego growled in frustration, her eyes flying up in aggravation before finally settling on Ron and Kim. "Well now, at least there's a nice consolation prize." Shego grinned as her hands began glowing again.

"Nice nose." Kim spoke with iron resolve. Shego growled in response, but the two were cut off as Drakken interrupted them.

"Forget it. Come on Shego, we've got some hunting to do." Drakken didn't bother to wait for Shego's acknowledgement as he turned and ran deeper into his lair.

Kim and Shego never once broke their stand off, until finally Shego relented. "Next time princess, we finish it."

"Get lost." Kim managed to spit out. Shego just turned and chased after Drakken.

Letting out a breath of relief, Kim turned to Ron, the young man's face covered in his own blood, his lips unnaturally discolored from some swelling as assorted bruises decorated his entire body.

Kim herself was no better off. She spit an unsettling amount of blood from her mouth, her hand moving to smooth a bump of her own just over her left eye.

The pair never said a word. They just collapsed from exhaustion in each other's arm, lying out on the cold hard floor in each other's warm embrace, keeping each other safe as they slept.


	13. A Hero's Rescue

Global Justice agents swept through the entire facility. Drakken's mechanical hulk, remnants of Slade's equipment, every last little thing was being carefully logged and confiscated.

Even as the small army of government agents continued their work, a single figure in full GJ gear spoke into a radio whose frequency was not on any government channel.

"Tower, come in."

The voice on the other end was that of a middle aged man, carrying a frustration in its tone. "Hey Rob. What's going on, you're a half hour behind schedule. BB and Star already checked in…"

"Cy, listen. I found him."

"Slade! He's there?" The voice on the other end of the radio could be heard leaping out of its seat.

"He was. Near as I can tell, he's had at least four days to clear out since." The faux GJ agent could not hide the disappointment in his voice. "I'm going to try and pick up the trail, but I doubt he'll stick around the Middleton area for much longer, if he isn't long gone already. Even he can't be crazy enough to risk sticking around with all the attention he's earned for himself."

"I'll see if I can pick up anything on this end. Tower out." The voice faded in a quick burst of static, leaving the figure to make a discrete entrance.

-----------------------------------------------------

One curious fact about the Middleton train station, their schedule was always off by at least twenty minutes, reliably so, ironically. Kim was starting to wish that she had learned this fact before wasting a solid thirty minutes sitting on a hard, cold metal bench near the platform so early in the morning. The station was largely empty, and surprisingly quiet. No loud announcements over the speakers because there were no trains coming, and no one else waiting on this particular platform apparently. The eerie silence tied even tighter knots in Kim's stomach than the ones already there.

Kim tried to pass the time by going over her inventory again. Ticket, check. Single duffle bag with just as many clothes as she could fit, check. Lack of any Kimmunicator, check. As much cash as she had been able to scrounge up on short notice, check.

Oh who was she kidding? Short notice! This had been on her mind for far too long. A thought that had eaten away at her for the last several days as she and Ron had both been restricted to the hospital bed. Kim's mother had personally taken over their care, but her professional experience came before her motherly instincts, and so she had arranged for Kim and Ron to have separate rooms during their recovery, at least at first, so as to facilitate rest.

It had made things a lot easier on Kim actually, as she thought back on it. She knew looking at Ron would only make this harder than it already was. As it was, all she could do to take her mind off his smile was to rub the bandages over her rib cage. They still itched from time to time, and Kim could think of no other way of passing the time than to simply scratch at them. She eventually became so absorbed in this that she paid no notice to the gentleman who had taken up the other half of her bench.

"There's a good reason why the five thirty train is never on time. It's because conductors actually have to sleep too!"

The voice brought shock to Kim's face as she looked over, scarcely believing that she hadn't noticed him.

"Ron! What… how on… when did you… how?" Kim tried to ask approximately seven different questions at once. The results were less than eloquent.

"Christmas, Kim." Ron answered simply.

"Christmas?" This only raised more questions, though Kim had given up trying to voice any of them.

"Christmas, a couple of years ago, when a resourceful and rather brash Kimmie Possible wired her parents living room so that she could see Santa come down the chimney and leave her presents." Ron recalled nostalgically. "You were so upset when you saw that it was your dad in a Santa suit that you rain straight to the Middleton train station to buy a train ticket to the North Pole, leaving on the earliest train out."

"I called you to tell you I was leaving. You came down in the freezing cold and brought me home before my parents ever even knew I was gone." A fond smile crept across the front of Kim's face as she finished the story.

"You're always running off somewhere Kim, but you always come back home in the end. It's what makes you Kim Possible." Ron paused for a moment before continuing. "So, where are we off to? We can't be gone long, I didn't have a chance to pack any clothes, and your stuff doesn't fit me, especially not anymore." Ron flexed his arm as if to illustrate his point. As he did, Kim couldn't help but notice him taking in the sight of his own new build as if it were a hideous scar.

A damn of tears threatened to burst behind Kim's eyes. She knew this was what she had to do, but to have to do it to his face was something she had hoped to avoid.

"Ron… I have to go."

"Yeah, I got that part KP. So, where are we going?"

Kim took in three extra breaths in less than second, cursing Ron silently for making her explain it to him when he already knew perfectly well what she was trying to do.

"I have to go, Ron. Not you, not us. Just me. I have to go away. And I can't come back, because it'll start all over again. You'll get hurt, my parents, my brothers… and I can't protect you." A spare tear moved down the side of Kim's cheek, leaving a trail of moisture across Kim's smooth skin, as if to herald the coming of its fellow kinsmen in force.

Ron stared at her blankly, his expression totally unreadable at first. "Ok, I'm going to assume that that's the bumps talking." Ron taped at a swelling on the side of Kim's head.

"Ron, this is serious." Tears began to burn down the side of Kim's face, and she simply gave up trying to hold them back. She already knew she didn't have the strength. "Slade was right. How many times are you going to get hurt because of me? I, I can't take that chance anymore." Kim struggled to divide her breath between speaking and crying, all the while totally unable to look Ron in the eye. "I can't just keep dragging you into god knows what kind of weirdness or trouble. It's selfish of me, and it's not fair to you."

A veritable river ran down Kim's face, yet she struggled to at least maintain her composure, if nothing else. Cruel silence reigned, yet she couldn't bring herself to take in Ron's reaction before continuing. "I'll… I guess I'll keep doing what I do… helping people. But I can't take you with me anymore. I have to do this alone, because I can't loose you Ron. I could never live with that. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you."

For a moment, Kim expected Ron's protest, pleas not to leave, arguments that she would need backup to save the world, something. Yet when he said nothing, when his voice refused to fill in the terrifying silence, she finally forced herself up to see the look on his face. At first, his expression was completely devoid of any expression, as if every word she had said had flown through one ear and back out the opposite and into the wind, into nothingness. Then, in what seemed like a stretched out eternity, as he gathered his breath, he spoke.

"You know something KP; you have got to be the dumbest girl I have ever met. You're even worse than Bonnie; at least she's consistently obnoxious!"

Of all the times that Kim had rehearsed this conversation in her head, all the different scenarios and exchanges she had imagined in her mind, never once had she conceived of anything like this. Ron's words tore through Kim like a serrated blade, yet he went on.

"Since when did you drag me anywhere? I mean, do you honestly think I have no spine at all? That I wouldn't have said something after all this time if I wanted to?"

Kim finally understood what Shego must have felt as Slade's nanomachines tore apart her insides. Every barrier within her had long since collapsed, her insides ripping themselves to pieces in the most grueling agony imaginable. Yet Ron showed no mercy.

"I mean what, some weirdo in a mask shows up, we have a close call or two, do a spot from an old Star Trek episode with the whole 'best friends forced to do battle' thing and then all of a sudden it's 'So long Ron. Nice knowing you. I'll write you from whatever third world country I'm off saving with no one to watch my back. So long to thirteen years of friendship and two months of dating; it was fun while it lasted, but all good things, etc, etc.'"

"B-but Ron, I… I almost killed you." Kim could barely choke out the words.

"And that's something new for me? Maybe it's escaped your notice, but I'm just old enough to shave, and I've already been in more life-and-death situations than most Navy Seals! My life is not normal KP, I've actually been haunted by a mutant fish boy from my old summer camp! I've switched bodies with my girlfriend, got turned into a super villain, and fought mutant snowmen. I even have my own arch enemy who's a ninja master with a thing for monkeys…. I hate monkeys!" Ron's voice spiked for a minute at this last bit, and then almost immediately softened, his tone shifting from its harsh sting to a gentle caress. "And I never would have been through any of that if it weren't for you. You have no idea how much that means to me." Ron reached out softly, taking Kim's quivering hands in his own.

"Ron…" Kim couldn't finish. Thankfully, Ron spared her from having too.

"You may be the leader of this team KP, but I always made my own decision every time I followed you. I knew what I was getting myself into each time Wade called up with a mission and I never once doubted that if you were going, I was going too."

The storm of tears pouring down Kim's face slowly subsided as she allowed herself to just be carried away in Ron's gentle words.

"And it's not like it was all bad, you know. I mean ok, the death traps, the super villains, the monkeys, those weren't fun." Ron admitted. "But I've seen and done things most grown men never even dream of. Guys my dad's age dream of saving up enough over their entire life and visiting places that I go to over the weekend. I've met celebrities, super heroes, countless scientists whose work I'm sure I'd be very impressed with if I didn't have to help get it back from the mad scientist of the week, heck; I'm a warrior hero in Japan." Ron beamed proudly. "But most of all, I have someone so special, someone who has been there for me no matter what. Whether it's homework or saving me from some freakish mutant killer dolphin, I know she will never let me down."

At this, Ron reached over, pulling Kim closer to him. Kim's insides melted at the very touch, her tear soaked face falling into Ron's chest, sparing his cast shoulder.

"And the last thing I'm going to do is let her walk into her own hell all alone. Wherever you go, I go." Ron spoke tenderly, even as he began gently stroking her hair.

"It's what makes you Ron Stoppable." Kim added from within Ron's shirt, her face resting comfortably against his new taught chest.

Ron smiled, then hoping that Kim didn't notice, took in a quick whiff of her hair, allowing the scent-induced memory to lift him into the sky for but a moment before returning to earth, speaking again. "We had a close call there, KP, and we will probably have a few more in our lives, but we'll handle them like we always do; together."

For a moment longer, there was silence. Perfect, blissful silence. A calm tranquility that either of the pair would have given anything to prolong; to remain inside their shared bubble, cut off from the outside world, contained eternally in each other's heavenly embrace.

The locomotive's cold howl tore their bubble mercilessly apart. Kim looked up to see her train had arrived for boarding.

Kim looked up into Ron's gentle gaze, then over to her bag. Letting out a gasp for air that she hadn't even realized she needed, Kim got up and lifted her bag from the side of their bench. Taking Ron in hand, she led the both of them away from the platform, leaving the conductor to call out for boarding passengers that didn't exist.

"So how did you get to be such a perfect boyfriend anyway?" Kim asked as if in a trance.

"Well you know how it is KP. When you got the perfect girlfriend…"

**The End**

-----------------------------------------------------

**Author's Note:** Well, this concludes my first fanfic ever. I had a blast writting it. I want to sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank all those who offered critical reviews as well as those who offered praise. You gave me the encouragment I needed to see this through. I hope you had at least half as much fun reading this as I did writting it.

I may yet update to edit a few things here and there but this is the end of the story. Thank you again for your time.


End file.
